Shaffer v. Beaver Valley Traction Co.

Citations

• 229 Pa. 533
• 79 A. 122
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 526

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Street railroads — Streets—Obstructions—Failure to warn —Contributory negligence — Exposure to danger.</p> <p>1. In an action for damages for the death of plaintiff’s husband against a street railway company, the plaintiff offered evidence that the defendant company had excavated a strip eleven feet wide in the highway alongside their existing track, which occupied one side of the street, thus leaving a strip of undisturbed paving only seven feet wide between the opening and the curb; that deceased and a companion were led to attempt to pass with a loaded wagon over this narrow strip by the defendant’s failure to bar the whole width of the street, and by circumstances making it seem that this was the proper highway; that the wagon upset while the deceased, standing in the excavation, and his companion, who was leading the horse, were endeavoring to get it out of the hole into which it had slipped; that just as it was falling over, one of the defendant company’s cars ran past and stopped; and that deceased was then found under the trucks of the car, dead. Held, that the case was for the jury, and the evidence sufficient to sustain a verdict for the plaintiff.</p> <p>2. Where a man finds himself placed in a dangerous position by the negligence of another, without his fault, and on striving to extricate himself, not having time to deliberate, happens to select a method not the best, which if he had had time to consider, he might not have taken, the law will not impute contributory negligence to him as readily as if he had had time to choose with judgment.</p>