Young v. Thompson
Young v. Thompson
Opinion of the Court
This action was brought to recover damages for injury to real estate by subsidence of the surface caused by mining the underlying coal. The original owner of both the coal and surface first sold the coal without releasing his right to surface support; subsequently he sold the surface overlying the coal to the Pittsburgh & Castle Shannon Railway Co. Later, that company laid out the
The facts here are almost identical with those before this court in Charnetski v. Miners Mills Coal Mining Co., 270 Pa. 459. Here, as there, the testimony shows the existence of three estates in the land, viz: the surface, the coal and the right of support, and there, as here, each of these were vested in different persons at the same time. In this case plaintiff owns the surface, defendants the coal and the railway company the right of support; consequently, as plaintiff does not possess the right of support of his surface he is not in position to maintain this action. The court below properly entered judgment non obstante for defendant.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.