Craven v. Pittsburgh Railways Co.
Craven v. Pittsburgh Railways Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
In the court below, judgment was entered upon a verdict for the plaintiff, to compensate him for personal injuries; the defendant has appealed and contends that the evidence failed to prove negligence on its part and showed the plaintiff guilty of contributory negligence.
The circumstances surrounding the accident and the trial judge’s views on the applicable rules of law appear in the following excerpts from his opinion refusing to set aside the verdict: “The place at which the plaintiff was injured was Monongahela avenue, a public highway about sixty feet wide in the Borough of Glassport. Upon the avenue the company operates a double-track electric railway. The accident happened at between 8 and 9 a. m. on October 19, 1910, the day was clear and the view of the street for a considerable distance east and west unobstructed. Plaintiff,......with two other
The foregoing is a correct statement of the facts, and we agree with the learned court below that the issues arising therefrom could not have been ruled as matters of law. While the defendant presented evidence to show that a wagon in the track obstructed the motorman’s view, and concerning the speed of the car and other relevant points, which, if believed, might have sustained a verdict in its favor, yet, the proofs were conflicting and the inferences not always certain; hence, the case was for the jury, and since the plaintiff secured the verdict, the testimony must be viewed in the light most favorable to him.' If we so consider the evidence, the motorman must or should have seen the two men pushing an apparently heavy load upon the track when he was about 500 feet away and, had his car been under proper control, by due care, as defined’ in Schnur v. Citizens’ Traction Co., 153 Pa. 29, he should have avoided the accident; at least the jury could justifiably so have found. But the appellant insists that the contributory negligence of the plaintiff was apparent. As
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
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- Negligence — Street railways — Contributory negligence — Case for jury. In an action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff, a street cleaner, in consequence of a collision between the cart which plaintiff was pushing and a trolley car, the questions of defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence are for the jury, where it appeared that plaintiff, while pushing the cart upon a public street in the course of his work, turned it upon the street railway tracks to avoid a horse and wagon and that while he was attempting to push the cart back to the driveway it was struck by the street car; that the day was clear; that the motorman’s view was not obstructed, unless by vehicles, for a distance of 400 feet; and where the evidence was conflicting as to the rate of speed of the car, the distance traveled by it before it stopped after the accident and the obstructions to the motorman’s view, if any; and where plaintiff testified that he looked before going upon defendant’s tracks, and saw the car at a distance, and that when he saw the car again it was six feet away and he attempted to escape, but the car bore down upon him without warning and without a proper lookout on the part of the ’motorman.