Mason v. Philadelphia

Citations

• 205 Pa. 177
• 54 A. 773
• 1903 Pa. LEXIS 543

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Municipalities—Open gutter.</p> <p>The streets of a municipality cannot be maintained at a dead level. There must bo some inequalities and offsets here and there. To hold the municipality responsible for missteps or slips by the users of the streets would be to make it an insurer.</p> <p>In an action against a municipality to recover damages for personal injuries it appeared that plaintiff was injured by slipping into an open gutter, which was formed by two parallel lines of curbing, set about ten inches apart. The inner line was the ordinary curbstone at the edge of the sidewalk. The outer line was so placed as to support the raised grade of the street, at that point, which had there been suitably arranged for a driveway, or entrance from a street into a stable. The method of construction used was an ordinary and usual one for an approach from the street to the stable. When it was so used, the gutter was covered with a plank, in order to make a smooth crossing for vehicles. The use of the premises for a stable had been abandoned years before, and dwellings were erected upon the site. The plank was then removed leaving an open water way, which differed from the rest of the gutter only in the fact that it was for a short distance curbed upon both sides. At the time of the accident, the plaintiff drove up to the place in the early evening, stepped out of his wagon upon the pavement, and intending to go to the rear of the wagon, stepped across the gutter with his left foot, and followed it with his right. A drizzling rain was falling at the time and freezing as it fell, which made the curbstone slippery. Plaintiff failed to notice that the gutter was curbed upon both sides, and did not step far enough to clear it with his right foot, but planted it so near the edge that it slipped from the curb into the gutter in such a way as to catch and become wedged, so that in falling his leg was broken. Held, that a nonsuit was properly entered.</p>