Carlisle Street
Carlisle Street
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The city of New Castle in pursuance of a valid ordinance caused Carlisle street to be opened and at the same time graded from Laurel avenue to Clenmore boulevard. After the opening and grading of the street had been completed the city presented its petition to the court below praying for the appointment of viewers, under the provisions of the Act of May 16, 1891, P. L. 75, and its supplements and amendments, to assess the costs, damages, expenses and benefits, under the provisions of said statute. Viewers were appointed and after having been sworn and given all the notices required by the statutes and the order of court they heard testimony, prepared a schedule of assessments of which they gave the notice required by law and after having given a hearing to all persons who presented objections to the preliminary assessment, they modified that assessment, assessing a larger amount against the city, and having arrived at a final assessment of the damages and benefits they filed their report. The report of viewers was, on December 15, 1911, confirmed nisi and, no exceptions having been filed the court, on January 16, 1912, entered an order of absolute confirmation. A part of the street was located across the lands of the appellants, to whom no damages were awarded and against whom an assessment of benefits was made. The appellants appeal from the order of final confirmation, and assign that order for error.
The appellants contend that the court erred in confirming the report of viewers for the reason that it is apparent upon the face of the report that the viewers did not consider the damages accruing to appellants by reason of the taking of their land by the opening of Carlisle street. This appeal brings before us only the report of viewers and the order of confirmation. There is no bill of exceptions to the admission or rejection of evidence, and what evidence was presented before the viewers and considered by them we do not know, for
The suggestion that the report of viewers shows upon its face that the viewers “did not view the improvement they were ordered to view,” is not sustained by the record. This suggestion is founded upon the fact that the entitlement of the report of viewers, the heading which designated the legal proceeding to which it belonged in the court below, contained the words “Opening and grading of Carlisle Street, from Laurel Avenue to City Line” instead of “from Laurel Avenue to Clenmore Boulevard,” which was the real title of the proceeding in the court below. It is argued that because there appears on the map returned by the viewers a dotted line marked “Old City Line,” that, therefore,
The contention that the report of viewers was invalid because there was not attached thereto a profile plan, showing the grade of. the improvement, cannot be sustained. This contention is founded upon the Act of May 26, 1891, P. L. 117, entitled, “An Act to provide that assessments of damages for the opening or widening of streets or highways in any city in this Commonwealth, shall include all damages for the opening or widening of the street or highway at the existing confirmed grade of such street or highway.” The manifest purpose of that statute was to afford a remedy to an owner of property which was damaged when the street was opened but not graded, but for which a grade regulation, or paper grade, had been established different from the natural grade of the surface. Prior to that statute the owner could not recover damages for the grade regulation, when the street was opened, although he was bound to take notice of it in his subsequent building operations, and might be deprived of the beneficial enjoyment of his lands: Greentree Avenue, 21 Pa. Superior Ct. 177, and cases there cited. Whether the language employed in that statute was sufficient to accomplish its purpose is a question not involved in this proceeding. When the city undertakes in one proceeding to both open and grade a street and actually completes the physical change there is no question as to the right of an owner to recover any damages he may suffer from the grade and there is no necessity for making a record of what the grade regulation is, for the
The order is affirmed and the appeal dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.