Guinter v. Williamsport

Citations

• 208 Pa. 587
• 57 A. 1064
• 1904 Pa. LEXIS 808

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Municipalities—Sidewalk—Province of court and jury.</p> <p>In an action against a city to recover damages for injuries sustained by a fall on a sidewalk, it appeared that the accident occurred on the side of a street on which plaintiff had lived for ten or twelve years, and over which he passed half a dozen times a day to and from his home. The street proper had never been paved, nor was the sidewalk actually separated from the street by a line of curbstone, although the demarcation between the two was noticeable. By an ordinance there had been laid upon the sidewalk a paving of stone five feet wide. The ordinance directed that the entire width of the sidewalk between the property line and the street should be ten feet. One foot ten inches from the property line the stone pavement began, so that adding this to the five feet of pavement, and deducting this from the entire width of the sidewalk, would leave a space not paved, of three feet two inches. On this space some trees were planted, and between them the ground was maintained as a grass plot. The grass was protected by a quarter inch wire guard on posts about fifteen inches above the ground. A pair of steps led from plaintiff’s residence to the sidewalk. The protecting wire of the grass plot at one end was bent at right angles and connected with one of the tree boxes. Plaintiff in passing a knot of several women who were standing on the walk endeavored to turn out from the paved walk on the side next the wire along the grass plot, struck his leg against the wire, fell and was injured. Held, (1) that the evidence failed to establish negligence per se on the part of the city; (2) that a verdict and judgment in favor of the city should be sustained.</p>