County of Lehigh v. Hoffort

Citations

• 116 Pa. 119
• 9 A. 177
• 1887 Pa. LEXIS 370

Syllabus

<p>1. A foot passenger passing upon a narrow foot-way, unprotected by guards, over a long and narrow county bridge in a large city was injured by a runaway team; held, that as such an occurrence could not have been reasonably foreseen by the authorities as the result of a failure to erect barriers, the county was not liable.</p> <p>2. In the erection of a county bridge in a village, the county is not liable for the failure of its commissioners^in the exercise of a proper discretion, to anticipate the growth of the'village into a city; or, in maintaining the bridge, for a like failure to determine the necessity for improvements, which may be supposed to be necessary to meet the demands of a greatly increased travel, or to anticipate that horses would become unmanageable on the wagon-way and that injuries might thereby be inflicted upon foot-passengers.</p> <p>3. A statute enacted, “That the commissioners of Lehigh county are hereby authorized to erect foot sidewalks adjoining the stone bridge crossing the Jordan Creek, at the Hamilton street crossing in the city of Allentown, county of Lehigh, Pennsylvania, at the cost and expense of the county: ” held, that the power given was discretionary only, imposing no legal duty, and that the county was not liable for injuries resulting from a failure to exercise the power.</p>