Baker v. Commonwealth

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Eagen,

This is an appeal from an order of the court below granting a new trial in a land damage case.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through its Department of Highways, condemned 3.097 acres of land owned by the plaintiff for purposes of widening and improving a public highway (conversion of a four-lane general access highway into a four-lane limited access highway). An additional one-fifth of an acre was severed and rendered useless to the plaintiff by the taking. The total acreage owned by the plaintiff at the time was approximately thirty-six acres of what originally…