Peterson v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 40 Wash. 33
• 82 P. 141
• 1905 Wash. LEXIS 932

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Streets—Negligence—Injury to Driver op Team Through Obstruction in Street Undergoing Repairs — ■ Team Beyond Control — Verdict Conclusive on Question op Pact. There is sufficient evidence to sustain a verdict for the driver of a team, whose horses got beyond his control in coming down a steep grade, and who was thrown from his wagon by obstructions at the street intersection, where it appears that the city, in repairing the intersecting street at the foot of the grade, left a sudden depression, and further obstructed the same with wide planks on each side of street car tracks, without closing the approach to the street, or giving notice of the danger; and the verdict is conclusive on the question of fact.</p> <p>Same — Duty op City. Where a city is improving a street and fails to close it for public travel, it owes the same duty to keep it in a reasonably safe condition as in the case of other streets, in view of the work going on and all the circumstances, and to use reasonable precautions to guard the public from injury.</p> <p>Same — Accidents in Case op Runaway Team — Obstructions Proximate Cause — Instructions. In an action for injuries sustained through an obstruction in a street by the driver of a team that was running away, it is not error to refuse an instruction to the effect that the city is not bound to anticipate accidents from, or make its streets safe for, runaway teams, where the instruction was not qualified by a statement that the city would be liable if the proximate cause of the accident was the unsafe condition of the street, without negligence on the part of the plaintiff, and where other instructions properly stated the law on the subject.</p>