Hartzig v. Lehigh Valley R. R.

Citations

• 154 Pa. 364
• 26 A. 310
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 895

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Bailroads—Passengers—Contributory negligence.</p> <p>Plaintiff, a, woman sixty years of age, was a passenger on defendant’s train. The coach in which she was riding was the only passenger coach on the train, and was preceded by four flat cars. At the time of the accident, deep piles of snow were on both sides of the track. When the train reached the terminal station, the brakeman beat down the snow by the side of the car to make a place for plaintiff to alight and stand until an engine removed the flat cars, which obstructed her passage along the track. After remaining in that position for some time she objected to staying there longer. The brakeman then suggested that, if she would pass over the four flat cars, she could leave the train that way, and that there was no other way for her to go. She thereupon proceeded over the cars successfully until she came to the place for alighting, and in attempting to get down from the car her clothes caught in the coupling pin, and she fell and sustained her injuries. Held, that the question of defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence was for the jury.</p> <p>In such circumstances, plaintiff cannot be charged with contributory</p> <p>negligence for doing as she was told to do by the brakeman. She was still in the charge of the defendant company and therefore was not a discharged passenger.</p>