In interpreting a deed with contradictory definitions of a land parcel's boundaries, a split en banc panel of the Commonwealth Court has ruled in favor of the landowners who alleged a de facto taking of that property by a gas company.

The majority affirmed an order from the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas overruling preliminary objections by Equitable Gas Co. to the landowners' petition for the appointment of viewers. The trial court relied on a survey of the property to find that Equitable buried a gas line on David and Kathleen Stark's land.

“There is ample competent evidence supporting the trial court's findings that the boundary for the Stark 1 and Stark 2 parcels extended to the center of the paper street and that Equitable buried the gas line on landowner's Stark 1 parcel in 1992,” President Judge Dan Pellegrini wrote for the majority in Stark v. Equitable Gas. “We simply will not accede to Equitable's request that we reweigh the conflicting evidence that was presented to the trial court showing a different boundary line.”