Opinion ID: 2331109
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Culm and Refuse Bank

Text: An examination of the complaint reveals that appellee has made no averment whatsoever that he or the County had any right, title or interest in the culm and refuse bank, either at the time suit was instituted or at any time in the past. An examination of the documentary evidence reveals only that appellee claims that the County received through the tax sale that which Fulton Company had conveyed to Great Anthracite and the latter had conveyed to Christiana. There is absolutely no evidence that, through the medium of these conveyances, title to the culm and refuse bank ever vested in the County. Even if appellee had clearly established his right of possession of the surface of the 21 1/2 acre tract and the County's ownership thereof, such right of possession and ownership would not carry with it the culm and refuse bank  personal property  on the tract's surface: Russell v. Howe, 30 Pa. Superior Ct. 591; Keystone Coal Co. v. Williams, 216 Pa. 217, 65 A. 407. Even if this were not so and the County did, by virtue of its ownership of the surface, acquire title to the culm and refuse bank located thereon, was the deed of November 5, 1951 a conveyance to Bridy of the County's title to the culm and refuse bank? [9] If the County claims title to the culm and refuse bank by virtue of the tax sale  a claim not averred by appellee  the question arises whether by virtue of the tax sale the County acquired title to other than land and whether the treasurer had the right at the tax sale to sell other than the land and any unsevered mineral rights (i.e. realty). On the other hand there was introduced at the hearing documentary evidence which tended to show title to the bank in neither the appellee or appellants but in a third party not of record, the Reading, and other evidence showing that appellants were in possession of the bank and therefore presumably the owner of it: Kaufmann's Estate, 281 Pa. 519, 532, 127 A. 133. Under the pleading and the evidence produced at the preliminary hearing, appellee's right to possession of this bank is anything but legally clear and his right to enjoin appellants necessarily depends on his own title to the bank.