Connerton v. President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.
Connerton v. President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
In an action to recover damages for an injury alleged to be due to the negligence of the defendant the evidence submitted to the jury should be such as will fairly support two conclusions of fact. First, that the defendant was guilty of the negligence charged. Second, that the plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence. In cases where the injury complained of results in the death of the injured person the law presumes that such person exercised the measure of care that it was his duty to exercise. The presumption is prima facie only and may be rebutted by proof of the acts of the injured person or of the circumstances surrounding the accident. In the case now before us a father sues to recover for the death of his daughter who was of full age but who still continued a mem
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Patrick Connerton v. The President, Managers and Company of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co.
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Contributory negligence — Rebuttal of presumption that deceased stopiped, looked and listened. The presumption that the decedent who was killed at a railroad crossing, stopped, looked and listened at a proper place before crossing, is rebutted by the fact that there was ample opportunity to see and hear an approaching train from points along the road which the decedent must have passed. Where, therefore, the evidence showed that ears standing upon a switch obstructed the view of the approaching train, but that before the obstruction came into the line of vision the decedent had an opportunity, at a distance of about fifty feet from the tracks, to see the track for about one thousand feet, and that at some twenty or twenty-five feet from the tracks the obstruction was again out of the line of vision, and the tracks were plainly visible for one thousand feet to and over the crossing, the legal presumption that the decedent stopped, looked and listened is rebutted, and a compulsory nonsuit was properly entered.