Piepke v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co.

Citations

• 242 Pa. 321
• 89 A. 124
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 882

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroad companies — Infants—Child of tender years — Duty of company.</p> <p>1. The degree of care required of the servants of a railroad company, where a person is run down upon the track by an engine, depends in some measure upon the capacity of the injured party. If an adult should place himself upon the railroad where he has no right to be, but where the company is entitled to a clear track and the benefit of the presumption that it will not be obstructed, and should be run down, the company will be liable only for wilful injuries or their counterpart, gross negligence; but if a child of tender years should do so, and suffer injury, the company would be liable for want of ordinary care.</p> <p>2. An engineer controlling a train is not bound to stop because he observes an adult upon the track, if he has no reason to believe that the adult does not observe the approaching train and has plenty of time to avoid the danger; if he thinks he does not observe the train, it is sufficient to whistle without stopping. But if instead of the adult, there is a little child upon the track, it is the duty of the engineer to stop his train upon seeing it.</p> <p>3. Where in an action against a railroad company to recover damages for personal injuries it appeared that the plaintiff, an infant between seven and eight years of age, was standing with three or more companions of similar age upon the tracks of the defendant company, in broad daylight, at the point where the tracks crossed a public street; that the attention of the plaintiff was fixed on an engine at the time discharging steam some distance away on another track; that whide in this position plaintiff was struck by the tender of one of defendant company’s engines which was running backwards from the opposite direction to that in which the boy was looking, and which approached without signal, and that such engine was running at the rate of from six to eight miles an hour, the case is for the jury, and it