Rauch v. Smedley
Rauch v. Smedley
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Cases are exceptional in which the court may direct a verdict for the defendant on the strength of testimony presented by him. They never arise where there is a real controversy as to the facts, or doubt as to the inferences to be drawn from them. The remedy for the wilful or capricious disregard of testimony is the granting of a new trial. Where the testimony offered by the plaintiff makes out a prima facie case by showing the existence of facts from which an inference of negligence arises, the case is necessarily for the jury, notwithstanding that the great preponderance of the testimony is with the defendant. An inference of negligence having once arisen remains until overcome by countervailing proof, and whether it is so overcome is a question for the jury : Penna. Railroad Co. v. Weiss, 87 Pa. 447; Spear v. P. W. & B. R. R. Co., 119 Pa. 61; McCafferty v. Penna. Railroad Co., 193 Pa. 339; Devlin v. Beacon Light Co., 198 Pa. 583.
According to the plaintiffs’ testimony, their wagon was going north on the right-hand side of the street, and as it
The judgment is reversed with a venire facias de novo.
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- Negligence — Evidence—Inference from facts — Province of court and jury — Collision between wagons. Cases are exceptional in which the court may direct a verdict for the defendant on the strength of testimony presented by him. They never arise where there is a real controversy as to the facts or doubt as to the inferences to be drawn from them. Where the testimony offered by the plaintiff makes out a prima facie case by showing the existence of facts from which an inference of negligence arises, the case is necessarily for the jury, notwithstanding that the great preponderance of the testimony is with the defendant. An inference of negligence having once arisen remains until overcome by countervailing proof, and whether it is' so overcome is a question for the jury. In an action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by a woman in a collision between a light wagon which she was driving and a heavy wagon of defendant, the testimony for the plaintiff tended to show that plaintiff’s wagon was going north on the right-hand side of a street and as it emerged from a narrow space between the curb and a furniture dray, which stood across the street, the defendant’s driver coming in the opposite direction turned his team diagonally across the street, and entered the narrow way, in which there was room for only one wagon, before the plaintiff’s wagon was entirely out; the driver was looking over his shoulder, talking to a man behind him, and disregarded the warning given him to look out or stop. The defendant’s witnesses presented the occurrence in an entirely different light and in one that wholly relieved the driver from blame. Held, that the case was for the jury.