Harten v. Brightwood Railway Co.
Harten v. Brightwood Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
It is virtually conceded by the appellant that there was no error in directing a verdict for the Washington, Woodside and Forest Glen Railway and Power Company.
Its duty ended when the plaintiff was safely deposited at the point designated by her along side the track, and it had no connection with its codefendant that would render it liable for the results of the latter’s negligence or misconduct.
Giving the plaintiff the benefit of every inference that can be fairly deduced from her own account of the cause of her injuries we find no error in the instruction given to the jury to find for the defendant which inflicted them. It is unnecessary to consider whether the defendant, operating the car which did the injury, was guilty of negligence that would warrant the submission of that question to the jury, for we are of the opinion that the plaintiff was plainly guilty of contributory negligence. The accident could not have occurred had she exercised any degree of care before crossing the tracks. ■ •
She was familiar with the place and knew that a car might be expected upon the other track at any moment. The track was practically straight and wholly unobstructed for several hundred yards. One looking up the track for the coming car could not fail to see it, and it was not possible for the car to traverse the space along which it was clearly visible, between the time the plaintiff looked for- it as she passed from one track to the other, and the moment when she stepped upon the rail and was struck by the fender attached to the front of the car. It would serve no useful purpose to review the many authorities cited on the argument in support of the contentions of the opposing parties. The difficulty in
The foregoing reasoning applies with even greater force to the facts of this case.
The judgment must be affirmed, with costs; and it is so ordered. Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HARTEN v. THE BRIGHTWOOD RAILWAY COMPANY
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Contributory Negligence; Street Railroads. Where a woman, on alighting from a street ear, waited for the car to start and then passed in the rear to a parallel track, where she was struck and injured by a ear coming in the opposite direction and running about ten miles an hour, and it appears that she was familiar with the place and knew that a car might pass at any moment, that the track was practically straight and unobstructed for several hundred yards, that one looking up the track for the coming car could not have failed to see it, and that it was not possible for the car to traverse the space along which it was visible, between the time she should have looked for it, as she passed from one track to the other, and the moment when she stepped upon the rail and was struck, she was guilty of contributory negligence per se, and cannot recover for her injuries, even though she testifies that she did look to see whether a car was approaching along the track where she was struck, and did not see one coming.