Jones, In Interest of

• Decision Date: 12 May 1995
• Citation: 649 A.2d 488,168 Pa.Cmwlth. 225
• Parties: In the Interest of David A. JONES. Mildred G. Walton, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court

Page 488

649 A.2d 488

168 Pa.Cmwlth. 225

In the Interest of David A. JONES.

Mildred G. Walton, Appellant.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 22, 1994.

Decided Nov. 1, 1994.

Petition for Allowance of Appeal Denied May 12, 1995.

Alan R. Gilbert, for appellant.

Richard P. Nuffort, for appellee.

Before COLINS, President Judge, and FRIEDMAN, J., and KELTON, Senior Judge.

FRIEDMAN, Judge.

Mildred G. Walton ¹ (Appellant) appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County (trial court) granting David A. Jones an easement for a private road that would traverse property owned by Appellant and a second property owned by Jere and Mary Brooks and connect Jones' land to a public roadway.

The trial court found that Jones possessed title in the landlocked property involved here and granted Jones a perpetual easement and right-of-way between his property and Rawlingsville Road over and through property owned by the Brookses and property owned by Appellant. Appellant presently contests that action, asserting that because Jones could not prove that he was the legal owner of the landlocked property, he is not entitled to an easement over her land. In connection with that argument, we are asked ² to determine whether Jones has qualified for relief under the Act of June 13, 1836, P.L. 551, as amended, 36 P.S. §§ 2731-2891, commonly known as the Private Road Act, and whether Appellant should have been permitted to cross-examine Jones as to the existence of heirs to the title of his alleged predecessor. Alternatively, Appellant maintains that if the easement was properly granted, then she is entitled to more damages and that she should have been permitted to erect a swinging gate at the established access road.

I.

Section 11 of the Private Road Act, 36 P.S. § 2731, states that a person may petition the court "for a road from their respective lands or leaseholds" to a public roadway. ³ Appellant argues that for Jones to prevail, Jones must show that he possesses clear, legal title to the land. In doing so, Appellant assumes that because Jones has acquired title by a judgment in his favor in a Quiet Title Action, his title is insufficient to trigger rights provided by Section 11 of the Private Road Act. Appellant's premise, however, is not supported by law.

Section 11 of the Private Road Act does not distinguish between the nature of the title, but provides only that the individual claiming a right to access be the property owner or a leaseholder. The trial court stated that the Quiet Title Action, which was never challenged, was definitive as against the world, that the time to challenge Jones' title had long passed and that as a matter of fact and law Jones was the title holder to the property. ⁴ Appellant has cited no authority, and we have found none to support her position that the trial court erred in granting Jones, as owner of the landlocked property, relief under Section 11 of the Private Road Act.

Moreover, once judgment was entered in the Quiet Title Action, any attack on Jones' title is collateral and impermissible. 4 Goodrich Amram 2d § 1061(b):1 (1991). Therefore, the trial court did not commit any error in restricting Appellant's cross-examination of Jones concerning his title.

II.

Appellant, in claiming that she is entitled to more "appropriate damages," has failed to make specific allegations as to what those damages are and has failed to present any expert testimony as to those damages. The trial court did not allow Appellant to so speculate, and we find no error in that refusal.

The reasons for her appeal to the damage assessment must include an indication of what error occurred and what damages she claims entitlement to. See Merida v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, 117 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 181, 543 A.2d 593 (1988). A reviewing body needs "some indication, however inartfully stated, of precisely what error(s) occurred and where the tribunal should focus its attention." Id. at 185, 543 A.2d at 595 (emphasis in original).

III.

Finally, Appellant argues that the trial court erred by failing to address her request to erect a gate at the access road. Sections 13 and 14 of the Private Road Act, 36 P.S. §§ 2733-34, give the owner of the land over which a private access road is authorized the ability to request the court's permission to erect a swinging gate across the entrance to the private road. ⁵ It is within the sound discretion of the trial court to consider any special request presented by a party and grant or deny that request. However, the trial court here has failed to address this issue. Therefore, we will remand this case for the trial court's consideration of Appellant's request as to the erection of a swinging gate.

Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's decision but remand for determination of the erection of a swinging gate, which the trial court did not address.

ORDER

AND NOW, this 1st day of November, 1994, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County, dated August 27, 1993, at No. 1478 of 1986, is hereby affirmed; however, this case is remanded for consideration of Mildred G. Walton's request to erect a swinging gate across the entrance of the private road, which the trial court did not address.

Jurisdiction relinquished.

1 Appellant's husband, J. Warren Walton, died in 1987; however, prior to that time, he was also a party to this action. Following his death, Appellant succeeded to his interest.

2 Our scope of review is limited to ascertaining the validity of the court's jurisdiction, the regularity of the proceedings, reviewing questions of law, and whether there has been an abuse of discretion. In re Private Road in Union Township, 148 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 522, 611 A.2d 1362 (1992).

3 Section 11 of the Act, 36 P.S. § 2731, specifically provides:

The several courts of quarter sessions shall, in open court as aforesaid, upon the petition of one or more persons, associations, partnerships, stock companies, or corporations, for a road from their respective lands or leaseholds to a highway or place of necessary public resort, or to any private way leading to a highway, or upon the petition of the chief executive officer of any executive or administrative department of the State Government for a road from any public highway across any lands of any person, association, or corporation to the boundary line of any lands owned, controlled, or administered by the Commonwealth, direct a view to be had of the place where such road is requested, and a report thereof to be made, in...