Commonwealth, Department of Transportation v. Dixon Ticonderoga Co.

500 A.2d 938, 93 Pa. Commw. 53, 1985 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1380
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 15, 1985
DocketAppeal, No. 1988 C.D. 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 500 A.2d 938 (Commonwealth, Department of Transportation v. Dixon Ticonderoga Co.) 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
Commonwealth, Department of Transportation v. Dixon Ticonderoga Co., 500 A.2d 938, 93 Pa. Commw. 53, 1985 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1380 (Pa. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Blatt,

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation (Department) appeals two orders of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, dated June 21,1984. The first molded a $500,000 jury verdict rendered on March 9, 1984 in eminent domain by adding delay damages bringing .the total verdict to $865,596 .and directed entry of the verdict in favor of the Dixon Ticonderoga Company (Dixon) and against the Department. The second order assessed attorney’s fees against the Department in the amount of $1,000 and further ordered the Department to pay to Dixon’s counsel an additional $1,000 per day from June 21, 1984 -until .the verdict rendered on March 9, 1984 has been paid.

This case- arises- from a condemnation by the Department’s predecessor, the Pennsylvania Department of Highways, commenced in 1968. Following a [55]*55remand from this Court,1 a ¡second jury trial was held in March 1984, resulting in the above-noted verdict in favor of Dixon. When, by June 20, 1984, the Department had not satisfied the verdict,2 Dixon filed a petition to establish; October 2, 1968, the date of the condemnation, as the date from which interest (delay compensation) would be calculated' and- to award additional attorney’s fees and penalties. After hearing argument from the parties on June 21, 1984, but without taking evidence, the trial court entered the orders at issue here.3

[56]*56On appeal, the Department raises three major questions for our determination: 1) whether or not delay compensation accrues, per se, from the date of the condemnation under Section 611 of the Eminent Domain Code (Code) ;4 2) whether or not a court may award interest on delay compensation and 3) whether or not attorney’s fees under Section 610 of the Code5 may exceed $500. We will address these issues in the order presented consistent with our scope of review in eminent domain cases.6

[57]*57Section 611 of the Code pertinently provides:

The conderonee shall not ¡be entitled to compensation for delay in payment during the period he remains in possession after the condemnation . . . Compensation for delay in payment shall, however, he paid at the rate of six per cent per annum from ¡the date of relinquishment of possession of the condemned property by the condemnee, or if the condemnation is such that possession is not required to effectuate it, then delay compensation .shall be paid from the date of condemnation. . .

In challenging the trial court’s establishment of the date of the condemnation, October 2, 1968, as the date from which delay compensation should accrue, the Department alleges that it did not obtain possession of the land in question until some time in May 1969. Arguing that it was erroneously denied an evidentiary hearing to consider the issue of the date of possession before the establishment of the date from which delay compensation would ¡be calculated, the Department relies on the statement of Judge Rogers, writing for this Court in Department of Transportation v. Hess, 55 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 27, 33, 423 A.2d 434, 437 (1980) (citing Govato v. Redevelopment Authority of Montgomery County, 11 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 529, 314 A.2d 536 (1974)), “that the mere filing of a declaration does not effect a condemnation for Section 611 purposes.”

Taking the position that possession was not required here to effectuate the condemnation, Dixon advances several arguments.

The first such argument is that, under the trial court’s holding that the taking was proven to that court and the jury, our decisions in Township of Ridley v. Forde, 73 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 611, 459 [58]*58A.2d 449 (1983) ; Benkovitz Appeal, 70 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 230, 452 A.2d 1113 (1982) and McCracken v. City of Philadelphia, 69 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 492, 451 A.2d 1046 (1982) hold that a .condemnee is entitled to just..compensation for the loss of his.property including interest,, fees, and costs .which follow.such a verdict.. Without disagreeing with that general principle, however, we do not read those cases as supporting Dixon’s position in the instant matter.

In examining .the relationship of those cases to this appeal,, we must bear in mind that there is no disagreement between the parties here that.Dixon is entitled to some delay compensation. The issue here is how much. And, of course, the resolution .of that question depends upon the date from which, such compensation is calculated, the date of the condemnation as Dixon contends or some later date in May 1969, as the Department argues,. . .

We explicitly held in Township of Ridley that the township,, the condemnor, .had to pay delay compensation, from the date .it took possession, not, as it had contended,, from the date it acquired title in fee simple. Also in Benkovitz, the question of when delay compensation began to accrue turned on possession. Finally, McCracken 'concerned a de facto taking, and is consequently inapposite here.

Next, Dixon argues that,- because the Department never Requested a hearing after the March 9,1984 jury verdict to allow it to attempt to prove that possession did not occur on the date of the condemnation in. order to def eat.the presumption that a condemnee is. entitled to delay compensation from the .date of the condemnation,7 allowance of. such a hearing, at this point in- the proceedings, would violate .the rule of Dilliplaine v. [59]*59Lehigh Valley Trust Company, 457 Pa. 255, 322 A.2d 114 (1974) (failure to make a timely specific objection at trial will result in allegation of error on that point not being considered on appeal). Again, we must disagree. Dilliplame,- being .an action for injuries allegedly arising out of an automobile collision and, therefore, within' the purview of the Pennsylvania Pules of 'Civil Procedure, is inapposite to this eminent domain- proceeding. Hess. Having no -evidentiary record of the post-trial proceedings, we believe-that Hess is controlling here and that a remand is required to establish a factual' record from' which the appropriate date to begin the calculation of delay compensation may be determined.

-" ■ Alternatively, Dixon argues that no remand is required here because this case comes under the exception iii §611-which establishes the date of the condemnation as the date from which delay compensation accrues -where possession is not necessary to effectuate the condemnation. Asserting that some of the interests-condemned in this matter are easements; Dixon- offers for -our consideration the following:

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Bluebook (online)
500 A.2d 938, 93 Pa. Commw. 53, 1985 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-department-of-transportation-v-dixon-ticonderoga-co-pacommwct-1985.