Johnson v. Wilcox

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Johnson v. Wilcox, 135 Pa. 217 (Pa. 1890)
19 A. 939; 1890 Pa. LEXIS 1175
Clark, Green, Mitchell, Paxson, Williams

Johnson v. Wilcox

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam:

The injury of which the plaintiff complains was so clearly the result of his own negligence that it was not error in the court below to direct a verdict for the defendant. The entrance to the dance-room, in Wilcox Hall, was by a lighted hall and stairway which was well known to the plaintiff. There was, therefore, a safe way to go and come, and had he followed it, he would have suffered no harm. He saw proper to leave this way and step through a door into the dark, upon a platform, under the belief that the platform was protected by a railing. In this he was unfortunately mistaken, and he fell and was injured. The owner of the platform owed him no duty of protecting it. He was going where, strictly speaking, he had no right to go, and must be taken to have assumed the risk.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
R. JOHNSON v. C. L. WILCOX
Cited By
11 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Where the plaintiff, while on his way to a dance-room in the third story of a building, having a safe entrance by a well-lighted hall and stairway, stepped aside through a door on the second floor out in the dark, upon a platform which he thought was protected by a railing, but fell and was injured, he was guilty of such contributory negligence that in an action against the owner of the building it was proper to direct a verdict for the defendant.