Amsbary v. Grays Harbor Railway & Light Co.

Citations

• 78 Wash. 379
• 139 P. 46
• 8 A.L.R. 1
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1030

Syllabus

<p>Evidence — Demonstrative Evidence — Experiments — Similarity of Conditions — Offer of Proof. In an action for the death of a person who fell and lay near the street car tracks in the nighttime, and was struck on the head by the running board at the side of the car, upon an issue as to whether the motorman was guilty of negligence in failing to see the deceased in time to have stopped the car, it is error to exclude an offer of proof of experiments with a dummy, made under substantially similar conditions,- tending to corroborate the motorman’s testimony that it was impossible to see the deceased until too late to stop the car.</p> <p>Same — Experiments — Preliminary Evidence of Similar Conditions — Discretion. In such a case, the exclusion of preliminary evidence of the similarity of conditions at the time the experiment was made is not within the discretion of the court, as upon the question of the sufficiency of such evidence to authorize evidence of the result of the experiment.</p> <p>Same — Substantially Similar Conditions. Upon an offer of proof of an experiment to show the effect of conditions at the time of an accident, it is only necessary to substantially reproduce a similarity of the conditions that would have some influence upon the result.</p> <p>Same — Similarity op Conditions — Discretion—Review. The exercise of discretion in the admission or rejection of evidence of experiments made out of court will be viewed more critically when the evidence is rejected than when it is admitted; since it often has more to do with the weight of the evidence than with its relevancy.</p>