Reidhead v. Skagit County

Citations

• 33 Wash. 174
• 73 P. 1118
• 1903 Wash. LEXIS 504

Syllabus

<p>Negligence—Bridges-—-Lack of Guardrails—Death by Wrongful Act—Proof of Cause of Death—Failure of Proof—Verdict not Sustained When Based on Conjecture. In an action for the death of a person alleged to have fallen from a bridge negligently maintained without any guardrails, there is a total failure of proof as to the cause of the death, and a verdict for plaintiffs is not warranted where it appears that the deceased left his team standing in the road the evening before to return some distance for a whiffl'etree, that the team wandered from the road down the stream without crossing the bridge, that deceased’s body was found partly underneath the bridge up-the stream, and the whiffletree four feet further up the stream, that deceased was familiar with the bridge, and that a person could approach the stream above the bridge and walk in the ravine beneath the same; since it is equally plausible and consistent with the testimony that he met his death other than by falling from the bridge, and the same cannot be left to conjecture or speculation.</p>