Coyle v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co.

Citations

• 256 Pa. 496
• 100 A. 1005
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 642

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Passengers at platforms — Croivds—Contributory negligence — Death—Rudeness of other passengers.</p> <p>1. It is the duty of a railroad company to furnish a safe and sufficient means of ingress to and egress from its trains and to exercise the strictest vigilance in protecting intending passengers assembled at its stations from liability to injury.</p> <p>2. When a railroad company invites the public to use its facilities to visit parks or places of amusement, it has notice that large crowds are likely to assemble and that proper care must be used in protecting them from injuries arising from such conduct as may reasonably be expected to occur, such as the sudden rush on the part of the crowd to obtain entrance to the cars immediately upon arrival of trains at the station.</p> <p>3. In an action to recover damages for the death of plaintiffs husband, who was struck by a railroad train belonging to defendant company and killed, it appeared that defendant was in the habit of running excursion trains to and from a park; that there was no regular station at the park, but that the train was scheduled to discharge passengers in the morning and receive them in the evening at a certain place near the entrance to the park; that there was no platform at the stopping place, but only a cinder-fill. Deceased and other excursionists had congregated upon the cinder-fill waiting for the train in the evening. The train approached at a high rate of speed, and as the engine passed the excursionists, those in the rear pressed forward and pushed deceased into the moving train, whereby his death resulted. IIeld, not a case of rudeness of other passengers, and questions of negligence and contributory negligence were for jury.</p>