The Commonwealth Court of PA recently ruled that the County and not the parties must pay the compensation of a Board of View in an eminent domain case. In Spigelmyer v. PennDOT, the trial court directed the parties to each pay ½ of the Board of View’s compensation. The Board of View is appointed by the judges of the county in which the eminent domain case is pending and hold a hearing after which they determine the amount of just compensation owed to the condemnee(s). Parties may appeal from that finding to PA’s trial court – the Court of Common Pleas.

The Commonwealth Court ruled that the PA Judicial Code requires the County to pay the Board’s compensation. It found that members of the Board fall within the definition of “appointive judicial officers” under Section 3544 of the Judicial Code and, therefore, their fees are the responsibility of the County.