Kobylis v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co.
Kobylis v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Appellant states but one “question involved” for our ' consideration, namely, the alleged contributory negligence of plaintiff’s deceased husband; this is correctly disposed of in the following excerpts from the opinion of Judge Wessel, who presided at the trial: “About two o’clock in the afternoon of September 14, 1915, Frank Kobylis met his death by being struck by an engine belonging to defendant, while it was being operated along defendant’s right of way through the town of Locust Gap, in this State. His widow brought this action......for the recovery of damages, which she claimed were suffered by reason of defendant’s negligence. The jury returned
To the foregoing liberal quotation from the opinion of the court below, we need only add that, in view of the considerable distance the train on the near track was from the crossing which plaintiff’s husband attempted to traverse in order to board the trolley on the other side of the railroad, and the slow rate of speed at which this train was approaching, it could not be ruled as a matter of law that the position of danger in which the deceased subsequently found himself was knowingly and negligently assumed by him; that issue of fact was properly submitted to the jury and determined against appellant.
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Kobylis v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Railroads — Pedestrian — Grade crossing — “Stop, looh and listen” — Sudden danger — lDeath—Contributory negligence — Case for jury. In an action against a railroad company to recover for death of plaintiff’s husband resulting from his being struck at a grade crossing, the question of the contributory negligence of deceased was for the jury and a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff will be sustained where it appears that as deceased was walking eastward along a street which crossed defendant’s double track line, for the purpose of boarding a street car standing on the far side of the crossing, he stopped and looked in- both directions; that he stopped, looked and listened a second time within four feet of the southbound (near) track; that a long freight train was then being • drawn by four engines up a heavy grade at from two to five miles per hour and was at a point 200 feet distant; that deceased then proceeded to cross and when between the north- and southbound tracks hesitated an instant and then continued across, and when on the far rail of the northbound track was struck by the engine of a train which had come around a sharp curve 490 feet distant without sounding a whistle or other warning of its. approach; and it appeared that there was no watchman at the crossing to give warning of the approach of the train.