In Re Condemnation By The Commonwealth

In April of 1993, pursuant to the power of condemnation granted in the Eminent Domain Code, 26 P.S. §1-101 et seq. (the "Code"), the Appellant, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Transportation (the "Department"), filed a declaration of partial taking for property owned by the Appellee, Dennis Sluciak. In this appeal, we are called upon to decide two questions: (1) whether Section 406(a) of the Code, 26 P.S. §1-406(a), required Appellee to raise by preliminary objections the claim that the condemnation landlocked his remaining property and diminished its fair market value to virtually zero; and (2) whether Section 602(a) of the Code, 26 P.S. §1-602(a), allowed the admission of evidence of the Department's later taking in February of 1997 of a neighboring piece of property, which served to insure that Appellee had legal access to his remaining property, on the issue of damages. We conclude that under the Code, Appellee was not required to file preliminary objections and that evidence of the Department's subsequent taking was not admissible in determining the just compensation to which Appellee was entitled. Thus, for all of the following reasons, we affirm the order of the Commonwealth Court.