Opinion
Argued December 6, 1983
March 8, 1984.
Eminent domain — De facto taking — Offer to sell.
1. To sustain a burden of establishing a de facto taking, a property owner need not have unsuccessfully exposed his property to sale. [650]
Argued December 6, 1983, before President Judge CRUMLISH, JR., and Judges ROGERS, WILLIAMS, JR., CRAIG, MacPHAIL, DOYLE and BARRY.
Appeal, No. 1791 C.D. 1982 from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Standard Investments Corporation v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation, No. 107 March Term, 1981.
Petition for appointment of board of view in Court of Common Pleas of Berks County. Department of Transportation filed preliminary objections. Preliminary objections dismissed. Viewers appointed. SAYLOR, J. Department appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.
Scott M. Olin, Assistant Counsel, with him Ward T. Williams, Chief Counsel, and Jay C. Waldman, General Counsel, for appellant.
Charles K. Serine, Miller and Murray, for appellee.
The order of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County dismissing the appellant's preliminary objections to the appellee's amended petition for the appointment of viewers alleging a de facto taking of its property and appointing a board of viewers as prayed for by the appellee is affirmed on the comprehensive opinion of Judge ARTHUR ED. SAYLOR reported as Standard Investments Corporation v. Department of Transportation, 28 Pa. D. C.3d 294 (1982). We emphasize that the court of common pleas, all of whose holdings we have approved, rejected the Department of Transportation's contention that a landowner, in order to sustain his burden of proving a de facto taking, must have unsuccessfully exposed his property to sale.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 8th day of March, 1984, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County in the above-captioned matters is affirmed.