Rundle v. Slate Belt Electric Street Railway Co.

Citations

• 33 Pa. Super. 233
• 1907 Pa. Super. LEXIS 274

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Street railways — Passenger—Runaway car — Sudden danger.</p> <p>Where in a case against a street railway company to recover damages for personal injuries, it appears that an electric car ran away down grade, and was abandoned by the conductor and motorman, that the track was not properly sanded, and that the plaintiff, a passenger, left his seat in the body of the car under the influence of fear, and placed himself on the rear platform where he was thrown off at a curve, the question of the company’s negligence is for the jury, and a verdict and judgment for plaintiff will be sustained.</p> <p>Negligence — Damages—Salary during disability — Gift.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, plaintiff is entitled to recover for the loss of his salary during disability, although the amount of it was paid to him by his employer, where the evidence shows that the money was paid by the employer not as a salary but as á gift.</p> <p>Negligence — Damages—Evidence—Carlisle tables.</p> <p>It is not error for the court in instructing the jury as to the regard to be given to the Carlisle tables to say “they may be of some aid to you if you get that far in the case, to determine how long it is likely that the plaintiff in this case would live. But they are not a positive guide to you; they are not binding upon you. Plaintiff might die to-morrow, or he might live sixty years, notwithstanding the Carlisle tables. You, as reasonable men, understand that. The duration of his life cannot be told, cannot be found out. It depends upon his physical condition. It depends upon his acts and conduct and somewhat upon his social condition in some cases. And so with this warning I will state that these tables may be of some aid to you — if you find out that plaintiff is permanently disabled — may be of some aid to you in ascertaining how long he is liable to live.”</p>