Lombard Pass. Ry. Co. v. Christian

Citations

• 124 Pa. 114
• 23 W.N.C. 273
• 16 A. 628
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 1010

Syllabus

<p>(a) In an action against a passenger railway company to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by the plaintiff and charged to the alleged negligence of the driver, the driver testified, referred to a written statement lie had signed: “The paper says, I started the car too soon. What I said was, I must have started it too soon.”</p> <p>(b) The driver testified also that he had been discharged immediately after the accident and he had seen the president of the company about it: “He asked me, why I was discharged, and I said on account of an old lady falling from my car, and he says, You had better say, an old lady being thrown from your car.”</p> <p>1. In such case it was error for the trial judge to charge: “ The driver’s evidence here is that he must have started the car before the plaintiff had time to get off, and that he was dismissed, on the ground that his negligence had produced the accident, by the president of the company.”</p> <p>2. The plaintiff’s testimony showing that the negligence, if any existed, was in the driver’s starting the car too quickly to enable her to alight, it was error to charge the jury that the construction of the car was to be considered, with the other evidence, as bearing upon the question of the defendant’s negligence.</p> <p>3. A witness who is in no sense an expert, may testify to distinct facts observed by himself indicating the physical condition of the plaintiff at a time referred to, but may not state how the plaintiff suffered in any part of his or her person.</p> <p>4. The declaration made to the driver by the president of the company, as above quoted, that officer having no personal knowledge of the facts of flic occurrence, was inadmissible as evidence either that the accident was the result of the driver’s negligence, or of any negligence at all.</p> <p>5. Moreover, it is imperative, in cases of alleged tortious conduct such as negligence, that, unless the act is specially authorized, the admissions of an agen