In re: Condemnation of a Certain Parcel of Land

506 A.2d 511, 96 Pa. Commw. 59, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2009
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 19, 1986
DocketAppeal, No. 3130 C.D. 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 506 A.2d 511 (In re: Condemnation of a Certain Parcel of Land) 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
In re: Condemnation of a Certain Parcel of Land, 506 A.2d 511, 96 Pa. Commw. 59, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2009 (Pa. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

Opinion by

Senior Judge Barbieri,

This is an eminent domain case wherein, the Appellants, William J. Schwartz and Donna J. Schwartz, appeal an. order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County which denied their petition to modify an earlier court order. That earlier court order provided for the payment by South Park Township (Township) of just compensation into the court in return for the prothonotary marking the Appellants’ petition for appointment of viewers settled, discontinued and ended, with prejudice. Appellants contend that the common pleas court erred when it foiled to include delay damages and limited reimbursement of appraisal costs and attorney’s fees in the amount that the Township wás required to pay into the court. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

The following facts aré pertinent. Appellants were the owners of a parcel of land subject to a Declaration of [62]*62Taking filed by the Township on March 11, 1973. Appellants filed a petition for appointment of viewers in 1981 and viewers were appointed. The Board of View filed its report with the court on February 14, 1984 wherein it fixed the amount of just compensation at $7,500 and also fixed the date of relinquishment of possession for delay damage purposes at March 11, 1973. Neither Appellants nor the Township appealed that report. The Township encountered some difficulties with the Appellants regarding the method of payment and subsequently filed a petition with the court to pay the amount of just compensation into the court. On April 6, 1984, an order was entered by the common pleas court authorizing the Township to pay the amount of the just compensation found by the Board of View, $7,500, into the court as full and complete satisfaction of the award of the Board of Viewers and releasing the Township from any further liability to the Appellants. On May 24, 1984 the Township deposited the funds with the common pleas court and the prothonotary marked the docket as settled, discontinued and ended with prejudice. On July 6, 1984, Appellants petitioned the court to authorize payment of the funds so deposited to them and to modify the order of April 6, 1984 to include delay damages under Section 611 of the Eminent Domain Code (Code), Act of June 22, 1964, Special Sess., P.L. 84, as amended, 26 P.S. §1-611, and limited reimbursement of appraisal costs and attorneys fees under Section 610 of the Code, 26 P.S. §1-610. The common pleas court denied Appellants’ petition to modify on October 11, 1984. it is from that order that Appellants now appeal.

In this appeal, Appellants argue that the exclusion of delay damages under Section 611 of the Code and reimbursement of attorney’s fees and appraisal costs under Section 610 of the Code was error in that they were en[63]*63titled to those awards as a matter of law and that such errors were not waived by their failure to seek a modification of the order within thirty days of the entry of that order. A final order or judgment may be amended by the court to correct its own errors, omissions, or oversights. Davis v. Commonwealth Trust Co., 335 Pa. 387, 7 A.2d 3 (1939). A petition to amend a final order or judgment is addressed to the sound discretion and the equitable power of the hearing court, and that courts exercise of its power will not be reversed in the absence of a manifest abuse of discretion or an error of law. First Seneca Bank & Trust Co. v. Laurel Mountain Development Corp., 324 Pa. Superior Ct. 352, 471 A.2d 875 (1984). Generally, a motion to amend a final order or judgment will not be granted unless the fetal defect claimed is apparent on the fece of the record. Haggerty v. Fetner, 332 Pa. Superior Ct. 333, 481 A.2d .641 (1984). The precise issue presented for our resolution, then, is whether the Appellants’ entitlement to an award of delay damages and partial reimbursement of attorney’s fees and appraisal costs is a matter of right so that the feilure of the common pleas court to include those awards in its order of April 6, 1984 constitutes an error of law requiring reversal of its denial of their petition to amend that order. We think that it does.

We initially note that it is the award of the Board of View, when not appealed, and not the order authorizing payment of just compensation into the court, which constitutes the final judgment in eminent domain cases. Sections 515 and 522 of the Code; 26 P.S. §§1-515 and 1-522; Hafez v. Redevelopment Authority of the City of Wilkes-Barre, 19 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 202, 339 A.2d 644 (1975). See also Snitzer) Pennsylvania Eminent Domain §523. We also recognize that under Section 611 of the Code that a condemnee is entitled to an award of delay damages as a matter of right, calculated [64]*64at the rate of six per cent per annum from the date of relinquishment of possession until the time of payment, unless just cause is shown to the contrary. Commonwealth v. 21.1 Acres of Land in Washington Township, Butler County, 61 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 383, 433 A.2d 915 (1981); In re Condemnation of 166-168 Williams Street, 57 Pa. D. & C. 2d 401 (C. P. Lycoming 1972); Cohen v. City of Philadelphia, 40 Pa. D. & C. 2d 441 (C. P. Philadelphia 1966); Snitzer, Pennsylvania Eminent Domain §611-2.1 (1980 Supplement).

Here, the Board of View, in its report of February 14, 1984, specifically found March 11, 1973 to be the date from which delay damages are to be calculated. That date was also found to be the date of relinquishment of possession. Therefore, since the Township did not appeal the viewers holding that possession was relinquished as of March 11, 1973, that determination was conclusive and the Appellants became entitled to delay damages calculated from March 11, 1973. Hay v. Commonwealth, 21 Pa. D. & C. 3d 567 (C. P. Somerset 1980). The Board of View needed only to determine the date of relinquishment of possession as no set figure for delay damages can be included by the board in its award in that delay damages can be calculated only at the time of payment of compensation. Alberts v. Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct.. 167, 277 A.2d 361 (1971). Payment by the Township into the common pleas court was not made until May 24, 1984 at which time the running of delay damages was stopped pro tanto. Matter of Condemnation by Redevelopment Authority of City of McKeesport, Allegheny County, 22 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 390, 348 A.2d 918 (1975); Trexler v. Department of Transportation, 63 Pa. D. & C. 2d 792 (C. P. Lehigh 1974). Therefore, since the Appellants were entitled to delay damages as a matter of right, the common pleas court [65]*65erred as a matter of law when it ordered that the Township be released from all liability and the matter marked as settled, discontinued and ended with prejudice upon the Townships payment of only the fixed amount of just compensation.

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506 A.2d 511, 96 Pa. Commw. 59, 1986 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 2009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-condemnation-of-a-certain-parcel-of-land-pacommwct-1986.