Prettyman v. Trenton Transportation Co.

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 353
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 19

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Carriers—Steamboat—Injury received in crowd — 1 Judgment n. o. v.</p> <p>A carrier must furnish a reasonably safe and sufficient means of ingress and egress for its passengers, and it is likewise incumbent upon it to exercise ordinary care in protecting from danger persons assembled at its stations and wharves. Rudeness and bad manners of strangers and intending passengers, resulting in injury, will not convict a carrier of negligence. Such conduct is not to be anticipated, and the carrier is not required to provide against it. It is bound to use such means as are reasonably necessary to prevent injury to individuals by unusual crowds, but the impossible is not required, and a jury cannot be permitted to draw inferences of negligence in the absence of evidence from which such negligence may be reasonably inferred.</p> <p>'In an action for personal injuries against a company operating an excursion boat, where it appeared that the plaintiff was injured by a disorderly crowd while on a wharf awaiting defendant’s steamboat, and it further appeared that the disorder was caused by persons who were unlawfully on the wharf, and that the facilities of the steamboat company were sufficient for all ordinary and expected crowds, and that the proximate cause of the accident was the unexpected crush of the riotous intruders, it was error for the court to refuse to enter judgment for the defendant non obstante veredicto.</p>