Johnson v. Philadelphia
Johnson v. Philadelphia
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The plaintiff, alleging he was unlawfully evicted from his dwelling house, brought this action to recover damages for injuries to his person and his property that resulted from the acts of the defendant’s officers during the course of said eviction. The property in question belonged to the city and had been demised to the plaintiff by a lease in writing. The original term stated in the lease was one month from the first of April, 1901. The rent' reserved was to be payable monthly in advance. The lease contained the following provision relating to the. extension of the term named: “And it is hereby mutually agreed that either party hereto may determine this lease at the end of said term by giving the other notice thereof at least ten days prior thereto, but in default of such notice this lease shall continue upon the said terms and conditions as are herein contained for a further period of one month and so on from month to month unless or until terminated by either party hereto giving to the other ten days’ notice for removal previous to the expiration of the said term or any extension or renewal thereof as above, etc.”
Without encumbering this record with a detailed statement of the dispute that had arisen between-the parties prior to the alleged unlawful eviction, it is sufficient for the purposes of this case to say that on the
We understand it to be practically conceded that this judgment was entirely void and without effect because the warrant had been exhausted by the entry of. a previous judgment in the amicable action contemplated by the lease which judgment was afterwards satisfied by the city. It was therefore held by this court in Philadelphia v. Johnson, 23 Pa. Superior Ct. 591, that no subsequent judgment could be entered under the said warrant of attorney because the power therein contained had been fully exercised and exhausted when one judgment had been entered thereunder. This case was affirmed by the Supreme Court 208 Pa. 645. The city therefore, having caused to be entered upon the records a judgment for which there was no warrant and having undertaken to have such judgment executed by placing in the hands of the sheriff a void writ, became a tres-' passer ab initio and liable to the plaintiff for any injuries resulting from the conduct of its officers in attempting to execute such a writ.
On the trial of the case, which resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff upon which judgment was afterwards entered, the defendant offered to prove that in the month of June, 1902, more than ten days before the expiration of that month, it had caused to be served on the plaintiff a notice to quit before the first day of July thereafter. Upon objection being made that the service of such notice was irrelevant, the learned trial judge
We are earnestly urged by the learned counsel for the city to reverse the judgment for an additional reason, to wit, that plaintiff’s cause of action, in so far as it rested on personal injuries to himself, was barred by the Act of June 24, 1895, P. L. 236. That statute provides: “Every suit thereafter brought to recover damages for injury wrongfully done to the person in cases where the injury does not result in death must be brought within two years from the time when the injury was done and not afterwards, etc.” The verdict for the plaintiff in the present case, as it was tried, was a general verdict and there is nothing in the record to enable us to determine what portion of the damages awarded resulted from the assault made on the plaintiff and how much represented the other injuries declared for. It is true there appears to have been no discussion of this ques
We think it would be impossible to convict the trial court of error because the plaintiff was permitted to testify to the quantity of household goods on his premises and their reasonable value. Much might be said to show that such testimony ought not to be considered in the class of expert evidence, but without going so far, the admission of his evidence may well rest on the common experience of men in everyday life that even those not possessed of wide or general knowledge on such subjects may with propriety testify as to the value of their own household goods and personal belongings such as are in everyday use in every family.
We find nothing in the remaining assignments to necessitate any particular discussion. For the rea
Judgment reversed and a venire facias de novo awarded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.