Lanning v. Pittsburg Railways Co.

Citations

• 229 Pa. 575
• 79 A. 136
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 534

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Street railways — Pedestrians—Broken wire — Evidence— Burden of proof.</p> <p>1. The rule res ipsa loquitur does not apply when one walking on a street of a municipality is injured by an appliance of a street railway company using electricity upon or over the street. The burden is on the person injured to establish negligence on the part of the company.</p> <p>2. In an action against an electric railway company to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been received by a pedestrian on a city street as the result of a broken trolley wire, where none of plaintiff’s witnesses in chief testifies that at the time of the breaking of the wire which caused the accident it had not been properly adjusted, fastened or strung, and the testimony of plaintiff’s experts does not tend to establish the negligence alleged as the cause of the accident, it is error to submit the question of defendant’s negligence to the jury on the ground that it could be fairly inferred from all the circumstances, and because no other cause was apparent to which the falling of the wire could be attributed.</p>