Stern v. Reading
Stern v. Reading
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
While driving on Fifth street, in the City of Reading, the pin bolt of the shafts of plaintiff’s wagon was dislodged and the vehicle was so jarred that he was thrown from his seat onto the street. The wheels of the wagon passed over him and he was severely injured. In this action he avers that the dislodging of the pin bolt was caused by a wheel of his wagon getting into a hole at the intersection of Fifth and Chestnut streets. It was shown that there was a hole at that point, that the pin bolt had been dislodged and that plaintiff had fallen from his wagon and was injured; but the learned trial judge sustained a motion for a nonsuit for the reason that it had not appeared that the hole in the street had caused the injuries to the plaintiff. If the hole was of the dimensions given by the witnesses, the plaintiff, if he had exercised ordinary care, could not have avoided seeing it from his seat in the open wagon, for the accident occurred on a clear day, in broad daylight. While his contributory negligence would have been a good ground for the non-suit, the learned trial judge was clearly right in holding
When negligence is averred as the cause of injuries sustained, it is not sufficient that the injured plaintiff establishes merely the negligence alleged; he must show that it was the cause of his injuries. In the very recent case of Reddington v. City of Philadelphia, 253 Pa. 390, the plaintiff’s complaint was that her foot had slipped into a hole or depression shown to have existed in the pavement over which she was walking. In sustaining the judgment of nonsuit, we said, through Mr. Justice Mestrezat, what is equally applicable to this appellant’s case: “The difficulty with the plaintiff’s case is that she
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
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- Negligence — Municipalities—Streets■,—Holes — Vehicle driver— Fall — Proicimaie cause — Contributory negligence — Nonsuit. 1. When negligence is averred as the canse of injuries sustained it is not sufficient that the injured plaintiff establishes merely the negligence alleged; he must show that it was the cause of his injuries. , 2. Where in an action against a municipality to recover damages for injuries sustained by plaintiff in consequence of being jolted from the wagon which he was driving, it was' alleged that the accident occurred as the result of a wheel of the wagon falling into a hole which defendant had negligently allbwed to remain in a public street, a compulsoryj nonsuit was properly entered where the evidence failed to show that the wheel of plaintiff’s wagon fell into the hole, or that in consequence of such fall into the hole he was jolted from the wagon. 3. In such case where the accident occurred on a clear day and the hole was of such dimensions that the plaintiff could not have avoided seeing it from the wagon if he had exercised ordinary care, a nonsuit could properly have been entered on the ground of contributory negligence.