Muckinhaupt v. Erie Railroad

Citations

• 196 Pa. 213
• 46 A. 364
• 1900 Pa. LEXIS 505

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Contributory negligence — Province of court and jury— Railroad.</p> <p>In order to justify the court in treating the question of contributory negligence as one of law, not only the facts but the inferences to be drawn from them must be free of doubt. If there is doubt as to either, the case must go to the jury.</p> <p>The whole duty of one about to cross the tracks of a steam road at grade is not in all cases confined to his stopping, looking and listening for the approach of a train. He must stop at a proper place, and when he proceeds he should continue to look and to observe the precautions which the danger of the situation requires. He should stop again if thei’e is another place nearer the tracks from which he can better discern whether there is danger. But whether the place at which he stopped was the proper place at which to stop, and whether there is a second place at which he should stop, are questions of fact for the jury, and not matters of law for the court.</p> <p>The rule that one who goes in front of a moving train which he must have seen if he looked should be held guilty of negligence, is in its nature a rule applicable only to clear cases where the conclusion to be drawn from facts and circumstances is irresistible.</p> <p>Plaintiff while driving a two-horse buggy on a country road approached agrade crossing of a railroad which was atan oblique angle. About 600 or 600 feet from the crossing and on the side on which the train approached, the tracks were in a cut of considerable depth. When plaintiff was about 176 feet from the crossing, he stopped, looked and listened par-' ticularly in the direction of the cut. Neither hearing nor seeing a train he proceeded to go on, and after he had gone about twenty feet, a boy who was riding with him drew down a side curtain and looked up the tracks, and reported that no train was in sight. His horses at this time were on a slow trot, and so continued until the crossing was reached. The diagonal