Clifton v. Williams

Citations

• 69 Pa. Super. 163
• 1918 Pa. Super. LEXIS 39

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Choice of two ways — Contributory negligence — Case for jury.</p> <p>Where a person having a choice of two passages, one of which is perfectly safe, and the other is subject to risks and dangers, voluntarily chooses the latter, and is injured, he is guilty of contributory negligence, but if the alternative route has dangers of its own, and the dangers of the route actually taken are not so great and obvious as to deter the general public and ordinarily prudent and careful people from using it, the question of contributory negligence of the person injured in using it, is a question for the jury.</p> <p>Where a woman foot passenger walking on the sidewalk of a public street, not familiar to her, is forced by the blocking of the sidewalk by building material, and by a board across the sidewalk, to go with other pedestrians into the roadway and around the obstruction, and enters upon the first open way to return to the pavement, and is injured by the negligent dumping of lumber by a teamster, as she is stepping on the sidewalk, the question of her contributory negligence is for the jury, if it appears that the street traffic at the time consisted of an automobile truck proceeding on the eastbound track on the street, a trolley car going west on the other track, and a milk wagon obstructing the woman’s further passage on the roadway.</p>