Sweeney v. City of Scranton
Sweeney v. City of Scranton
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The City of Scranton duly passed an ordinance authorizing the grading, curbing and paving of two squares of Wyoming avenue, and the work was done in pursuance thereof. The city having undertaken to grade, pave and curb the street in a single proceeding, as it had the right to do, viewers were appointed by the court below to assess the damages and benefits arising from the improvement. Mary Sweeney was the owner of lot No. 38, in block 15, abutting upon the line of the improvement, and the report of viewers made the following assessment against that lot, viz: “Benefits $312.10, damages $250, net benefits $62.10.” Mary Sweeney, the plaintiff in this action, appealed from each of the three elements of that assessment, the benefits, the damages and the net benefits. The trial of the appeal resulted in a verdict and judgment in her favor; and from that judgment the city took this appeal.
The trial judge instructed the jury that the measure of damages was the difference in the market value of plaintiff’s property as a whole before and after the improvement, but erred in instructing that the benefits to the property, which it was the right of the city to have the jury consider, should be confined to such as were special to plaintiff’s property, as distinguished from other properties abutting upon the part of the street improved. The true rule in such eases is that the municipality is entitled to have considered benefits special to abutting property, and no less so because other properties abutting upon the improvement may be similarly
This was not the only appeal from the report of viewers in the proceeding with which we are now dealing. Thomas Gaughan appealed from this same report and upon the trial of his appeal, under the same rulings by the court below which are complained of in this case, he recovered a judgment, from which the city appealed t.Q
The judgment is reversed and a venire facias de novo awarded.
Reference
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- Municipalities — Streets—Change of grade — Pavements — Damages — Benefits—Assessments—Appeals—Acts of May 15, 1918, P. L. 215, and May 28, 1915, P. L. 578. Where a municipality cuts down the grade of a road, the owner of the abutting property is entitled to damages measured by the difference in value of the property before and after the improvement. The municipality is entitled to have considered the benefits special to the abutting property, and no less so because all the other properties along the line of the improvement may be similarly benefited. The benefits to be considered are not limited to such as are peculiar to the plaintiff’s property, as compared with other property abutting on the improvement, but should be compared with other properties not abutting upon the improvement. The appeal from the award of viewers brings up the whole case, including both damages and benefits, as it is from the net amount only and the proceedings in the common pleas are de novo. The Act of May 15, 1913, P. L. 215, was not repealed by the Act of May 28, 1915, P. L. 573. Neither in the title or the body of the statute is there any foundation for a suggestion that it was the legislative intention to change the existing law regulating the reports of viewers and appeals from their findings.