Bilardi v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation

Opinion by

Judge Rogers,

Gerard Bilardi and Elizabeth, his wife, (appellants), the owners of property in Lackawanna County fronting on a state highway, filed a petition for the appointment of viewers pursuant to Section 502(e) of the Eminent Domain Code (Code), Act of June 22, 1964, Special Sess., P.L. 84, as amended, 26 P.S. §1-502(e), alleging that the Department of Transportation (DOT) had de facto appropriated their property by digging a drainage ditch on it. DOT filed preliminary objections and the court of common pleas, after a hearing, sustained the objections and dismissed the petition…