Russell v. Westmoreland County

Citations

• 26 Pa. Super. 425
• 1904 Pa. Super. LEXIS 329

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — County bridge — Defect in bridge — Fright of horse — Sudden danger — Proximate cause — Contributory negligence.</p> <p>Where a person without fault on his part finds himself suddenly in a position of danger, he is not held to the use of the best judgment, but only to good faith and reasonable prudence.</p> <p>In determining what is proximate cause the true rule is that the injury must be the natural and probable consequence of the negligence, such a consequence as, under the circumstances of the case, might or ought to have been foreseen by the wrongdoer as likely to flow from his act.</p> <p>The action of an ordinarily safe and tractable horse suddenly becoming frightened at the very place where a highway is negligently left in a dangerous condition and backing over the unguarded precipice, is not always to be regarded as one of those extraordinary occurrences which the public authorities cannot reasonably be expected to foresee and provide against.</p> <p>The duty of a municipality, whether township, borough, city or county, having control of the highways is to keep them reasonably safe for ordinary travel by the ordinary horse. It is under no obligation to provide for everything that “may” happen upon them, but only for such things as ordinarily exist, or such as may be reasonably expected to occur.</p> <p>An elderly woman driving a single horse and buggy ascended the approach of a county bridge oh the left-hand side of the road, that being the commonly traveled and best part of the road. When she reached a point part way up the approach, and where there was no guard wall on the side, she stopped the horse to permit a team which suddenly came into view to pass. As the team came opposite them the horse became frightened and backed the buggy over the -wing wall, resulting in serious injuries-to its occupants. The plaintiff testified that “from the time we stopped our buggy and saw the wagon and until we actually fell over the wall we had no time to