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Sobien v. Mullin

Where jury found defendant liable for costs incurred by plaintiffs in repairing their wall, which had become exposed to the elements due to defendant's removal of his condemned building, judgment on jury verdict reversed because plaintiffs' easement in wall terminated when wall was rendered useless to either party through no fault of defendant; defendant did not owe plaintiffs a duty to protect wall from the elements and could not be held liable for repair costs.

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OPINION

�1 Appellant, James Mullin, appeals from the judgment entered on the jury verdict finding him liable for the cost incurred by Appellees, Ailisa and Frank Sobien (the Sobiens), in re-framing and siding their end wall, which had become exposed to the elements due to Mr. Mullin’s removal of his condemned building. On appeal, Mr. Mullin claims the trial court erred in refusing his request for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV). We reverse and remand.

�2 This case involves party wall rights between adjoining landowners in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. The relevant facts are not seriously in dispute. Mr. Mullin has owned the lot located at 876 Progress Street for the past twenty-five years. The Sobiens purchased the adjoining lot numbered as 874 Progress Street in 1995. The buildings on the respective lots date back to the early 1900′s. The building on Mr. Mullin’s lot was built first, and its brick side wall adjacent to the Sobiens’ lot was constructed wholly within Mr. Mullin’s property line. The original owner of the Sobiens’ lot built their residence in such a manner that the interior framing of their north wall butted up against Mr. Mullin’s brick wall using it as a curtain or firewall and thereby encroached upon Mr. Mullin’s property. The structural weight bearing wooden beams ran from front to back, and there was no tie into Mr. Mullin’s side wall. The parties were unable to determine whether at the time of this construction the lots were owned individually or by the same person. However, this information was unnecessary in deciding whether the wall was intended as a party wall because the Sobiens alleged they had acquired prescriptive rights to the continued use of the wall as a protective wall.

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