Hamilton v. Pittsburg, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad
Hamilton v. Pittsburg, Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
All the material facts in this case are to be found in appeal by same defendant reported in 190 Pa. 51. We find nothing-in the assignments of error calling for special notice, except those from the tenth to fifteenth inclusive, alleging inadequacy and unfairness in the general charge of the court; and the sixteenth, nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first, alleging error in the admission of incompetent testimony and instruction to the jury on the effect of it.
As to the charge, we cannot say as matter of law it was erroneous, inadequate or partial. We concede, as we must do from our judicial observation in very many cases, that generally, there exists, especially against carrying corporations, an unreasoning prejudice which often results in injustice to them, and that it is the duty of trial courts to combat such prejudice and reach judgments uninfluenced by it. The right of eminent
As to the errors complained'of in the admission of the testimony of Albert Hamilton and tlxe other witnesses, a number of the answers were incompetent and some irrelevant. In several instances they were not in response to the questions asked. The court sustained some objections to answers and overruled others, and struggled to limit the adxnissioixs to that only which was competent. If, as seems to have been claimed by plaintiffs in their testimony, the packing house, by reason of the combustible material, was a tinder box, within six feet of passing locomotives, then their claim for damages should have been strictly limited to the cogt of rendering the building fireproof or to
On the whole case we see no error which would warrant a reversal.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James T. and Albert Hamilton, trading as J. T. & A. Hamilton v. The Pittsburg, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Company
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Railroads — Eminent domain — Right of the commonwealth — Instructions. In a proceeding to assess damages for land condemned by a railroad company, where it appears that a prejudice exists in the community against the railroad company for taking the land, failure of the trial judge to instruct the jury that all land is held subject to the right of eminent domain, and that a railroad company, in exercising this right as the representative of the commonwealth, is guilty of no usurpation of power, is ground for reversal, but a charge which is in substantial accord with the rulings of the Supreme Court, and merely lacks clearness in one or two particulars, will be sustained. Evidence — Incompetent answers to questions — Trial—Motion to strike out testimony. Where certain answers of witnesses are competent, and other answers are incompetent, the court will not, on motion, strike out all the testimony of the witnesses. The motion should include only those answers which are erroneous. Evidence — Trial—Request for instructions. The Supreme Court will not assume that a trial judge erred in omitting to give more specific instructions on the evidence than he did give, if it appears that no request \was made to him to give such instructions."