Davies v. McKnight

Citations

• 146 Pa. 610
• 23 A. 320
• 1892 Pa. LEXIS 1268

Syllabus

<p>(a) In an action for causing the death of a person by unlawfully furnishing liquor to him, the testimony tended to show that the deceased, in consequence of intoxication so caused, fell into a gutter of water and became thoroughly chilled; that he at once became sick, exhibiting symptoms of bronchitis, and after two or three days symptoms of pneumonia:</p> <p>1. The immediate cause of death being the pneumonia, and there being medical testimony tending to show that the exposure would be likely to cause pneumonia, the question of proximate cause was for the jury, who were to determine whether the pneumonia was the result of the exposure, and the consequence, by continuous causation, of the furnishing of the liquor.</p> <p>2. Under the Pennsylvania statutes* a widow may maintain an action for the death of her husband against one who caused it by furnishing to Mm liquor, he being of known intemperate habits or being at the time visibly intoxicated; and the husband’s voluntary taking of the liquor, in these circumstances, is not such contributory negligence as will prevent her recovery.</p>