Besecker v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad

Citations

• 220 Pa. 507
• 69 A. 1039
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 806

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Station—Passenger—Alighting from train— Running train on track intervening between station and standing train— Proximate cause — Contributory negligence.</p> <p>In an action by a passenger against a railroad company to recover damages for personal injuries, the ease is for the jury and a verdict and judgment for plaintiff will be sustained where the evidence shows that the plaintiff, a passenger, after his station had been announced and the door of his car opened, arose from his seat, went through the open door, and alighted from the car while it was still in motion, and after having safely alighted, was struck and injured while crossing a track between his train and the station, by another train which was run on the intervening track in violation of the rules of the company. In such a case the proximate cause of the accident was not the alighting from a moving train, but was the act of the company in negligently running another train on the track intervening between the plaintiff’s train and the station.</p> <p>While passengers are alighting from a train at a station, and proceeding across the tracks to the station, it is clear negligence for the railroad company to permit a train to pass upon one of the intervening tracks thereby endangering the safety and the lives of the passengers. Under such circumstances the passenger has a right to assume that his safety will not be endangered by permitting a train to pass upon the intervening tracks while he is in the act of crossing to the passenger station, and he may rely upon the company to keep the tracks clear.</p>