The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-04-06
A Question OF Damages.

In the Supreme Court, at Philadelphia,
on Tuesday last, the arguments in the fol-
lowing case from this county were heard:
Samuel C. Bunting ct. al. vs. Nesquehon-
ing Valley Railroad Company. Error to
Common Pleas of Carbon Gounty--In 1869
the Nesquehonng Valley Railroad Com
pany, without giving bond or instituting
proceedings under the act of Assembly, en-
tered upon the property of the Bunting es-
tate near Mauch Chunk. An action of
ejectment was brought against them as tres
passers in 1872, but they nevertheless con-
tinued to build their, road and lay down
tracks in spite of the pending action. On
April Sd, 1874, when the case came for trial,
the railroad company confessed Judgment,
and at their request the Court below ordered
a stay of proceedings until the filing of Il re-
port of viewers appointed under the act of
Assembly authorizing the taking of land by
railroad companies. That jury, on August
22d, 1864, fixed the value OF the land taken
at $2,S3j, and the damages to the premises
by reason of the construction of the road at
s2,050. An appeal was taken from this
award, and in the lower court the owners of
the land claimed that the land was to be
considered in their possession on the Sd of
April, 1874, at the time of the Judgment in
ejectment, and that the damages for the
land taken We're 10 include not only the
mere soil, but everything erected on it, or in
other words. that in assessing the damages,
the ties, rails and buildings the railroad
company had put on the land prior to April
Sd, 1874, were to be considered as the pro-
perty of the owners Of tie land. With this
view the plaintiffs offered evidence to prove
the value OF the land, including the fixtures
erected thereon by the railroad company,
and asked the Court to instruct the jury
that the measure of damages was as above
stated, The court below excluded the evil
dence offered, and directed the jury to dis
regard the fixtures entirely and estimate
the value of the land without reference to
said fixtures, because the plaintiffs could not
recover for the improvements which the
railroad company had put upon the land if
they had occupied it for the purpose Of con-
structing their road, even though such i'm
provements were erected pending the action
IN ejectment. The jury found Tor Bunting
ct al. for Sl,O74.4l. The latter thereupon
took their writ of error, assigning the ruling
above cited as ground for q reversal. They
contend that they were owners of the rails,
ties and other structures erected on the land
by the railroad company prior TO the date of
the cjectmcnt, and therefore they were enti-
tied to damages for the taking thereof by
the Nesqueh0ning Railroad Company or
any other corporation which might proceed
under the act of Assembly for the condem-
nation of the land for railroad purposes.
The defendants in error contended that the
true measure of damages for the taking OF
land by, railroad company for the con-
stguction Of its road is the difference be-
tween the market value of the whole pro-
perty through which the road passes and its
value after the railroad is finished. That
the entry on the land OF Bunting ct al. hav-
ing been made in 1859, the injury for which
damages were payable accrued at that time
and it was for damages sustained by the
Land as it then stood, aud not as it stood
years afterward when the ejectment suit
was settled, that recovery could be had
Under adyisement