Legal: Judge rules against t-stop in dispute about an access road

摘要

A judge has tossed out a $1.75 million jury award to a Pennsylvania truckstop operator in a land dispute arising from a road project. Commonwealth Court Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter ruled that HPT TA Properties Trust wasn’t entitled to the jury award since it did not own the access road that was lost when West Hanover Township did the work about 12 years ago.HPT operates a TA truckstop on a 53-acre property located along Linglestown Road in the township. The property was originally broken up into two parcels with different owners. One of the properties was landlocked. The access road, known as the Elbow, was created in 1966 when the other landowner granted the state Department of Highways an easement, according to the judge’s decision. When the truckstop was built on the property, it was configured so tractor trailers would use one entrance and cars would use the Elbow to gain access. In September 2008, the town condemned 0.054 acres of the truckstop property that didn’t contain the easement and paid $15,385.55 for the land. In November 2010, the Elbow was closed, leaving the truckstop with a single entrance at a lighted intersection.