Smith v. Philadelphia

Citations

• 217 Pa. 118
• 66 A. 142
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 665

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Municipalities—Defective road — Contributory negligence —Nonsuit.</p> <p>In an action against a city to recover for personal injuries, it appeared that plaintiff was driving on a wide avenue which at the time of the accident was unimproved as a city street. He was riding in a road cart at a slow trot when one wheel of the cart ran into a depression, and in turning the horse abruptly to one side the cart was upset. The depression was six or eight feet in length and about ten feet in width, with sloping sides, and had a depth of six or eight inches at its lowest point. , It was near the edge of a car track which curved from a cross street on to the avenue. There were no other vehicles nor other objects on this part of the avenue to distract the plaintiff’s attention or obstruct his view of the road in front of him. He testified that he could have seen the depression when twenty-five or fifty feet from it, and that he had last glanced in front of him two minutes before the accident and then was looking for a car that might come from the cross street. Held, that a nonsuit was properly entered on the ground of plaintiff’s contributory negligence.</p>