Burns v. City of Bradford

Citations

• 137 Pa. 361
• 20 A. 997
• 1891 Pa. LEXIS 892

Syllabus

<p>1. Where there is no structural defect in a sidewalk, a municipal corporation is not liable for an injury occurring by reason of its unsafe condition at the time, unless it had express notice of the defective condition, or the same was so notorious as to be evident to all persons passing.</p> <p>2. If a defective condition be such that it is discovered by only one out of very many persons who pass by it, in the ordinary pursuit of business or pleasure, it cannot be said to be notorious, or to be such a defect as that the municipality is chargeable with constructive notice of its existence.</p> <p>(а) A plaintiff, injured by falling on a plank sidewalk four feet in width, testified that one side of it was lifted up, at the time of her fall, so as to be a foot higher than the other side. One witness, in her behalf, testified that she saw it two or three weeks before, and that it was then in the same condition.</p> <p>(б) No other witness testified that the walk was out of order prior to the accident. The'plaintiff herself had passed over it just before, and had seen nothing wrong with it. A witness in her behalf, who came to her assistance, when injured, testified that there was nothing to call his attention to it as dangerous:</p> <p>3. There being no evidence of any structural defect in the walk, the evidence in the case was insufficient to charge the city with constructive notice that the walk was out of order; and, as there was no evidence of actual notice, it was error to submit the question of liability to the jury.</p>