Somerset Borough v. Sweitzer
Somerset Borough v. Sweitzer
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The borough of Somerset, under the authority conferred by the Act of April 23, 1889, P. L. 44, paved a street, caused two-thirds of the cost of the improvement to be assessed against properties abutting thereon, and filed claims against said properties, among which was that of this defendant, in strict conformity with the provisions of sec. 11 of the Act of June 4, 1901, P. L. 364. A writ of scire facias was issued upon the claim filed against the
The claim conformed to the requirements of the act of June 4,1901, and sec. 20 of that statute makes it evidence of the facts thus necessarily averred, and it was not incumbent on the plaintiff in the presentation of its case in chief, to disprove allegations of the affidavit of defense: Allentown v. Ackerman, 37 Pa. Superior Ct. 363. There had been a petition presented to council for the improvement of this street. The petition was offered by the defendant and admitted in evidence by the court. The appellant has not printed it in his paper-book and we might quash the appeal for that reason, but, instead of quashing, we will accept the statement in the opinion of the court below, that the petition was verified by the affidavit of W. L. Morrison, one of the petitioners. Counsel for the defendant made a formal admission, at the trial, that, within ten days after the passage and approval of the ordinance authorizing the improvement, there were posted along the line of the proposed improvement notices which strictly and fully complied with the provisions of the Act of April 14,1905, P. L. 168. The borough having thus given notice that the petition for the improvement had been signed by two-thirds of the owners of property,, representing not less than two-thirds of the number of feet of the property fronting on the street, had brought itself within the protection of the act of April 14, 1905, and it became incumbent on anyone who desired to question the sufficiency of the signatures to the petition to do so in the manner provided by that statute. The
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.