Davis v. Stowe Township

Citations

• 256 Pa. 86
• 100 A. 529
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 567

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Highways—Township of first class — Electrical appliance in highway — Constructive notice — Death—Act of April' 28, 1889, P. L. 10Jh</p> <p>1. A township of the first class is bound, under the Act of April 28, 1889, P. L. 104, to keep its highways in repair at all seasons and clear of all impediments, and to protect the public against defectively installed overhead electric wires in the highway, of the condition of which-the authorities have or should have notice.</p> <p>2. In an action by a widow against a township of the first class to recover damages for the death of her husband, the case is for the jury where* it appears that deceased met his death shortly after six o’clock in the morning on a highway of defendant township by coming in contact with a detached guy wire which had fallen across a defectively insulated electric feed wire and became charged, and there is evidence that three or four township police, whose expressly imposed duty it was to examine and report daily upon the condition of the highway, saw the wire “sparking on the street” about five o’clock on the morning of the accident and made no effort to provide against accident; and further that the bad condition of the feed wire had been noticeable for twelve years.</p> <p>Practice, C. P. — Negligence—Intemperate and improper remarles of counsel.</p> <p>3. A statement by plaintiff’s counsel in addressing the-jury in a damage case “that the plaintiff and her children will have to , be supported by charity unless the jury give them a verdict,” constitutes the use of such intemperate and improper language as to make the withdrawal of a juror obligatory on request of defendant’s counsel.</p>