Hunter v. Robinson Township

Citations

• 251 Pa. 436
• 96 A. 1036
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 481

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Townships — Highways— Unguarded declivities — Death — Proximate cause — Case for jury.</p> <p>In an action of trespass brought against a township for causing the death of plaintiff’s husband, it appeared that while deceased was driving up the approach to a bridge, on either side of which were abrupt and unguarded declivities, his horse became frightened from an unknown cause and backed the wagon over the declivity, causing the driver’s death; defendant contended that the unfastening of a trace was the proximate cause of the accident. A witness testified to a conversation with deceased after the accident when he was suffering great agony, in which he was alleged to have attributed the accident to the loose trace, not to the absence of a guard rail. The condition of the horse and wagon when found at the foot of the declivity did not bear out the theory of the unfastened trace. The trial judge left the case to the jury, charging that it was for them to say how much weight should be given to the alleged statement of the injured man prior to his decease. The jury by a special finding negatived the alleged loose trace as an element in the case and found a verdict for plaintiff upon which judgment was entered. Held, there was no reversible error.</p>