Simpson v. Phoenix Glass Co.

Citations

• 251 Pa. 208
• 96 A. 470
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 659

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Gangway between factories— Guard-raüs — Lights—Fall of worhman — Judgment n. o. v.</p> <p>In an action by an employee against a glass manufacturing company to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by falling from a gangway extending between two factories of defendant’s plant, and having no guard-rails on the part from which plaintiff fell, judgment for defendant n. o. v. was properly entered where it appeared that the gangway, originally constructed for another purpose, had been used permissively by the workmen in coming to and going from their work for a period of eight years prior to the accident, although another safe means was provided: that at the time of the accident the condition of the gangway was the same as during the whole period of eight preceding years, that plaintiff, who bad used it constantly during that time, bad made no complaint or request, nor bad any of tbe other workmen, for guard rails or additional lights; and while the plaintiff testified that the darkness on the night of the accident was greater than had ever been experienced by him before so that he was unable to see by the light from the factory door which ordinarily was the sole means of illuminating the gangway and that in consequence of the darkness he had fallen and was injured, the uneontradicted evidence was that the light at the factory door was known to have been burning very shortly after the time of the accident and there was nothing in the evidence tending to show that it had become extinguished or was not in fact burning at the time the plaintiff fell from the gangway.</p>