Bowen v. Pennsylvania Railroad

Citations

• 219 Pa. 405
• 68 A. 963
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 586

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Risk of employment — Contributory negligence — Railroads.</p> <p>When one person enters the employ of another there is an implied contract that he assumes such risks as are ordinarily incidental to that employment, and to have notice of all such risks as are or ought to be open and obvious to a person of his experience. He assumes this risk in advance at the very inception of his contract of employment and it continues so long as that relation exists.</p> <p>An injured party cannot recover if guilty of contributory negligence, because by his own act he has intervened between the negligence of the defendant and the injury received in such a manner as to break the causal connection.</p> <p>In an action by a brakeman against his employer, a railroad company, to recover damages for personal injuries, binding instructions for the defendant are proper where it appears that the plaintiff was injured in alighting from a car by coming in contact with a telegraph pole close to a switch, that the plaintiff knew of the location of the pole, had previously notified the supervisor of the yard about it, and two minutes before the accident had warned the engineer that he would be hit by the pole if he did not take his head in from the engine window, and that the plaintiff could have avoided the accident if he had exercised reasonable care in alighting from the ear.</p>