Ehly v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co.

Citations

• 56 Pa. Super. 512
• 1914 Pa. Super. LEXIS 114

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railways—Permissive crossing — Infant—Evidence—Case for jury.</p> <p>1. The question ofi whether there was a permissive crossing over a railroad at a particular point is for the jury where the evidence tends to prove that at the point in question there was an established path crossing the track leading up to an embankment through an opening in a high board fence to a public street; that no attempt had been made for a period of years to close the opening; that the lower and middle stringers of the fence had been removed and the upper stringers showed no nail marks indicating that boards had ever been attached to them; that in repairing other parts of the fence this opening had not been touched; and that a number of residents in the neighborhood as well as several hundred mill employees habitually used the crossing.</p> <p>2. In such a ease it is immaterial that the trial judge may have referred to the fact that nobody had ever been arrested or interfered with for using the opening, where it does not appear that he stated that from this fact alone the jury might infer the existence of a permissive crossing.</p> <p>3. Where a railroad company has for years, without objection, permitted the public to cross its tracks at a certain point not in itself a public crossing, it owes the duty of reasonable care towards those using the crossing; and whether in a given case such reasonable care has been exercised, or not, is ordinarily a question for the jury under all the evidence.</p> <p>4. In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for personal injuries to an infant of tender years, the case is for the jury where it appears that the child went over the tracks at a permissive crossing, and was struck by a light engine running pilot first which had not given any warning signals of its approach.</p> <p>Negligence — Infant—Pain and suffering.</p> <p>5. In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for personal injuries to an infant chil