Bucks County Water & Sewer v. Rawlings

566 A.2d 357, 129 Pa. Commw. 511, 1989 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 722
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 15, 1989
DocketNo. 2860 C.D. 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 566 A.2d 357 (Bucks County Water & Sewer v. Rawlings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bucks County Water & Sewer v. Rawlings, 566 A.2d 357, 129 Pa. Commw. 511, 1989 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 722 (Pa. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

BARRY, Judge.

This is an appeal by the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority, in an eminent domain proceeding, from an order which entered judgment against the appellant on November 2, 1988. The sole issue raised by the appellant is that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing evidence of a de facto rather than a de jure taking and in failing to allow evidence of the liability of the independent contractor who constructed the sewage extension project and who admittedly placed a pump station building outside of the area of the formal condemnation. The trial court ruled prior to the start of the case (R. 63(a)) that the contractors were agents of the authority and that the authority had a nondelegable [513]*513duty to see that the building was built according to a de jure taking. The trial court requested the jury to enter what it called a “real” verdict assuming a de facto taking and an advisory verdict which assumed that the building had been constructed de jure. The jury entered a “real” verdict in favor of the appellee in the amount of $55,000 and an advisory verdict in the amount of $10,000.

The appellant argues to this Court that the case of Deets v. Mountaintop Area Joint Sanitary Authority, 84 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 300, 479 A.2d 49 (1984), is controlling. Deets held under the facts of that case that the property owner’s sole remedy in a case involving negligent actions of an independent contractor is an action in trespass against the offending contractor. No post-trial motions were filed by the appellant in this case and no opinion was filed by the trial court. We, accordingly, have no review by the trial court of the propriety of its rulings or an analysis of the Deets case. The trial court stated that the issue of de facto or de jure condemnation was reserved for appeal. The appellant argues in its brief that the issue is preserved here.

We are of the opinion that the appellant is mistaken. Rules of Civil Procedure No. 227.1(b) entitled “Post-Trial Relief” states as follows:

(b) Post-trial relief may not be granted unless the grounds therefor,
(1) if then available, were raised in pre-trial proceedings or by motion, objection, point for charge, request for findings of fact or conclusions of law, offer of proof or other appropriate method at trial; and
(2) are specified in the motion. The motion shall state how the grounds were asserted in pre-trial proceedings or at trial. Grounds not specified are deemed waived____ (Emphasis added.)

[514]*514If this rule governs, then contrary to appellant’s contention, the issue of whether the claim sounds in eminent domain or trespass may not be preserved.

At this point we must inquire whether the rules of civil procedure apply to eminent domain proceedings. The broad language of Borough of Jefferson v. Bracco, 113 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 223, 536 A.2d 868 (1988), would seem to indicate that they do not. We note that Braceo involves a non-jury decision. We further believe that the rationale of that case, if still valid, should not apply to jury trials. It has been held by this Court that the rules of civil procedure are instructive in eminent domain proceedings. Such is the conclusion of Judge Rogers in the case of Hall v. Middletown Township Delaware County Sewer Authority, 75 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 181, 461 A.2d 899 (1983). In Hall the question was how to raise properly the defense of the statute of limitations. It was agreed by Judge Rogers that this question could not be raised by preliminary objection which is the preferred vehicle provided for preliminary matters under the Eminent Domain Code, Act of June 22, 1964, P.L. 84, as amended, 26 P.S. § 1-524. Hall approved the filing of an answer and new matter to raise the issue of timeliness. There was no way this could have been done, except to invoke the Rules of Civil Procedure. To the same effect is Biernacki v. Redevelopment Authority of City of Wilkes-Barre, 32 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 537, 379 A.2d 1366 (1977), where the court stated that even though the rules of civil procedure did not apply, the issue of joinder of an indispensable party and, accordingly, the invocation of Pa. R.C.P. Nos. 2226-2250 could not easily be avoided.

It must be noted also that the Rules of Civil Procedure have a section at the beginning which relate to “Business of the Courts” (Rules 51 through 250). Rule 250 states as follows: “The Rules of this chapter shall apply to all civil actions and proceedings at law and in equity.” We are of the opinion that Rule 227.1, contained in that chapter entitled “Post-Trial Relief” was meant to apply to eminent domain proceedings. We are also of the opinion that the [515]*515Rules of Civil Procedure regarding post-trial motions must be deemed to apply to all jury trials. We cannot otherwise explain the eminent domain case of Yudacufski v. Department of Transportation, 54 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 448, 422 A.2d 1181 (1980), reversed, 499 Pa. 605, 454 A.2d 923 (1982).

In that case this Court addressed the inadequacy of a jury verdict raised by a post-trial motion and also the contention that the verdict of the jury was against the weight of the evidence. This Court was reversed by the Supreme Court but not on the question of whether it was proper to file a post-trial motion, but on whether the denial of a petition for change of venue should have been raised by post-trial motion or was waived. Instructive is the Supreme Court’s footnote No. 5 in reversing our Court on this issue. Id., 499 Pa. at 609, 454 A.2d 923.

A line of Commonwealth Court cases, starting with Department of Transportation v. Ambrosia, 24 Pa. Cmwlth. 8, 354 A.2d 257 (1976), have held that the Eminent Domain Code, and not the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure, provides the exclusive procedure by which eminent domain matters are governed. We need not now consider this line of cases since both the Eminent Domain Code and the Rules of Civil Procedure are silent on whether a pre-trial venue issue must be preserved through a post-trial motion.

Also instructive is footnote No. 6 on page 609, 454 A.2d 923. “This is not to say that exceptions to pre-trial rulings need not be raised in a post-trial motion____” (Emphasis supplied.)

We note one of the Explanatory Comments to Rule 227.1 as follows:

In Yudacufski v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, 499 Pa.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Commonwealth v. Choice
830 A.2d 1005 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
In the Interest of Jones
636 A.2d 1304 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Harborcreek Township v. Ring
570 A.2d 1367 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
Semanderes v. Commonwealth
566 A.2d 1290 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
566 A.2d 357, 129 Pa. Commw. 511, 1989 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 722, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bucks-county-water-sewer-v-rawlings-pacommwct-1989.