Lindberg v. Mifflin Township
Lindberg v. Mifflin Township
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
On the morning of May 14, 1912, while the plaintiff was driving a team, hauling an ordinary load of household goods, one of the horses stumbled and pulled its mate and the wagon over an unguarded embankment, directly at the side of the road. The bed of the highway was occupied by two street car tracks, leaving but a
It is well known that at times all horses will stumble, that when they stumble they are likely to fall, and when down they will probably struggle in their attempts to get up; and those in control of public roads are charged with the duty of taking reasonable care to erect appropriate barriers at dangerous places to guard against injuries which may arise from the well-known habits of horses. Under the facts at bar, the jury was justified in concluding that one exercising reasonable care should have known that a guard rail was required at the place in question, and that the absence of an appropriate bar
The Act of June 26, 1895, P. L. 382, authorizes companies incorporated thereunder to build boulevards not exceeding one hundred feet in width — “at least fifty feet of such width to be a good, compact, driving road, of which thirty feet......shall be constructed of stone, gravel, or other proper and convenient material.” The road upon which the accident happened presented none of these characteristics, and in dealing with the question of the responsibility of the defendant township, notwithstanding the fact that it had entered into a contract with a boulevard company concerning this road, the court below states: “The testimony showed that previous to 1898 an old, narrow, and very little travelled public road ran along the side of the hill......, known as the Bench Road. While the testimony failed to show just when the road was laid out and opened, it did appear that the supervisors of the township for some years previous to 1897 did repair work upon it. There was also testimony of an indefinite character that in April, 1898, the supervisors......gave their consent in writing to the.......Boulevard Company.......to construct a boulevard over and upon a portion of the old Bench Road, and that under this permission the boulevard company took possession of about sixty per cent, of the old road, widened the portion taken, laid down upon it a double street car track, and paved with brick 16% feet of the road bed. At the place of the accident......, which was on a part of the old road, the road as improved by the boulevard company was 23 feet in width, four feet of which was between the paved portion and the edge of the embankment over which plaintiff was thrown. Defendant contended that it was not liable in this case, because of the agreement between its supervisors and the boulevard company under which the boulevard company had possession of the road at the point of the accident. ......Upon examination of the paper, we find that on
The foregoing excerpt from the opinion of the court below presents a correct view of the law upon the branch of the case there discussed, and sufficiently disposes of the chief of the appellant’s contentions; as already indicated, we see no merit in its other contentions. The present case, like all others of its kind, depends upon its own facts, hence the citation or discussion of authorities would serve no useful purpose; we have examined all of
The assignments of error are overruled, and the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.