Gehringer v. Lehigh County

Citations

• 231 Pa. 497
• 80 A. 987
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 875

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Bridges—County bridge — Change in character of travel— Repairs — Inspection—Latent defects.</p> <p>1. A county is liable for damages suffered through a failure on the part of the floor system of one of its bridges, while there was being taken across it a load which, in respect of weight and otherwise, was different in character from the ordinary and usual travel over the highway in the locality of the bridge at the time it was built, but not different from such travel at the time of the accident, if the county commissioners, although properly maintaining the bridge in accordance with its original design and plan, made no effort to strengthen it for some length of time after much heavier vehicles had come into common use.</p> <p>2. It is not reversible error for the court to affirm a point to the effect that it is the duty of the commissioners, upon being informed that a county bridge is out of repair, to examine thoroughly and to make such repairs, as would render it perfectly safe for ordinary travel, or to close it up to prevent the public from using it. The use of the phrase “perfectly safe” states the law somewhat strongly against the county, but it is not without authority.</p> <p>3. In an action against a county to recover damages for injuries sustained by the breaking of the floor of a county bridge where there is evidence that the county commissioners had inspected the bridge, the question of the sufficiency of the inspection is for the jury to decide upon the evidence, guided by the impression which the witnesses made upon them as to the sincerity and thoroughness of the tests described.</p> <p>4. Where the evidence shows that the inspection of the commissioners was most casual, there is no error in charging that, “the omission to search for and discover latent defects resulting from the decay of material used in the bridge is evidence of negligence properly chargeable to those whose duty it is to repair, ” and “when a bridge has served for