Luks v. American Ice Co.

Citations

• 267 Pa. 337
• 109 A. 680
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 859

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Runaway horse — Sudden emergency — Choice of two courses — Charge of court — Allegata et probata.</p> <p>1. The mere fact of a runaway does not imply negligence. If a team without fault of the driver is running away, and he is confronted with a sudden emergency which offers two equally dangerous courses, in selecting either one of them he is not to he convicted of negligence even if the one selected is an error of judgment from which an injury follows; hut, when the emergency is created because of his own unusual conduct amounting to negligence, the owner will be liable for injuries following the selection of one of two dangerous courses whether the selection is through an error of judgment or not.</p> <p>2. In an action against the owner of a team to recover damages for personal injuries plaintiff’s statement charged negligent and reckless driving and nothing more. Plaintiff’s case showed that while she was walking on the south 'side of a street running east and west she noticed the team coming towards her along a dead-end street which terminated at the street on which she was walking. The horses were “running wild” and the driver was whipping them. The team was driven on to the sidewalls and she was injured. Defendant’s case showed that the team was hauling a wagon containing several thousand pounds of ice. It consisted of two horses, one, recently purchased, roadworthy, and not green, accustomed to work in harness, but not “city broke,” without having shown any disposition to run away. The other was considered safe, with a record of having been driven in the city for two or three years. The new horse was high spirited, but both left the stable at a walk. Before they had gone far, the new horse started prancing, and as the team turned into the dead-end street they were on a run and could not be held in by their experienced driver, nor Stopped by two stable men who attempted to do so. To prevent a collision with an automobile at the turn into the st