Shaffer v. Roesch
Shaffer v. Roesch
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Plaintiff boarded a street car moving southward on German-town avenue, and while in the act of stepping from the running-board into the car, the car then moving at the usual rate of speed, was struck in the back by the end gate of a wagon belonging to defendants, which was standing in charge of defendants’ employee on the west side of the street, about twelve inches from the track. He sought in the action to charge the defendants with negligence and liability for the injuries he received. The case was submitted to the jury, and their finding was for the defendants. Since the question of defendants’ negligence, and that of plaintiff’s contributory negligence, were both passed upon, we are unable to say which governed in the determination; but the assignments of error leave only for our consideration the instructions of the court with respect to the former. The immediate cause of the accident
On the trial, plaintiff offered in evidence a city ordinance which requires that wágons in stopping on the streets should stop on the right of the highway. Defendants’ wagon, at the time of the accident, was on the left. Had it been facing the south, the direction in which the ear moved, the gate would have opened towards the pavement, and of course, the accident could not have occurred. The court’s rejection of the evidence is assigned for error. In Ubelmann v. American Ice Company, 209 Pa. 398, we held that a municipal ordinance and its violation, are matters of evidence to be considered with all the other evidence of the case; but we further held there that this rule is limited to cases in which the ordinance relates to the alleged negligent act under investigation; that ordinances and their violation are admissible not as substantive and sufficient proof of a defendant’s negligence, but as evidence of municipal expression of opinion on a matter on which the municipal authorities had acted that the
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment affirmed.
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- Negligence — Collision between wagon and car — Evidence. In an action against the owner of a butcher wagon to recover damages for personal injuries, it appeared that on the morning of the accident, plaintiff boarded a summer street car, and while in the act of stepping from the running board into the car, which was then moving at the usual rate of speed, was struck in the back by the end gate of the wagon, which was standing with horses to the north, in charge of its driver on the west side of the street about twelve inches frotn the track. It appeared that the gate of the wagon had been opened for purposes of delivery and was closed back along the side of the wagon next the track. As the car came near the wagon the gate swung out towards the car, plaintiff was struck and the gate was broken loose from the wagon. There was nothing to show that force was applied by anyone so as to cause the gate to swing outward. The uncontradicted evidence was that whatever started the gate came from the front of the wagon where no one was standing. Defendant’s theory was that the advancing car, by driving a current of air behind the gate to the side of the wagon, displaced the gate from the wagon’s side and threw it out towards the track. The trial judge left it to the jury to determine whether the force supplied came from the wagon, or from the front. Held, that this charge gave plaintiff a larger opportunity for recovery than he was entitled to, inasmuch as there was no evidence that force had been applied to the end gate from behind, but as the verdict was for defendant the verdict should be affirmed. In such case an ordinance which required that wagons in stopping on the streets should stop on the right of the highway, is immaterial, although the wagon at the time of the accident was on the left-hand side of the street. The purpose of such an ordinance was merely to secure an orderly movement of traffic, and not to prevent accidents from end gates which might swing either to the right of or the left according to the construction of the wagon.