Stremme v. Dyer

Citations

• 223 Pa. 7
• 72 A. 274
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 465

Syllabus

<p>Trial — Charge of court — Harmless error — Negligence.</p> <p>1. On the trial of a negligence case defendant sought to establish a different cause for the accident than that asserted by plaintiff, denying that the trestle fell because of defective construction, and attributing its fall to negligent use of same by plaintiff and a fellow workman. In referring to this latter feature, the trial judge in his charge spoke of it as “the only defense set up in this case by the defendant.” Held, that the connection in which the remark occurs in the charge, and the very full instructions given on the other question — the sufficiency of the trestle— prevented any misleading effect.</p> <p>Negligence — Fall of trestle — Evidence—Opinion of witness.</p> <p>2. In an action to recover damages for personal injuries caused by the falling of an alleged defective trestle, a witness for the plaintiff, a carpenter of experience, who had helped to cut and saw the timber used in the construction of the trestle, may testify that in his judgment the structure was unsafe, and this is the case although he may not have actually inspected the parts in place at the point where the structure broke.</p> <p>3. In such a case a witness for defendant having testified to the strength of the trestle in question, was asked whether he had known in his own experience trestles to break in consequence of lateral pressure from cumulative deposits of earth upon one side of the structure. The question was disallowed on the ground that it did not appear that the conditions were the same; nor was it proposed to prove that they were. Held, that the evidence was properly excluded.</p> <p>Trial — Construction as to testimony — Recollection of testimony — Jury.</p> <p>4. Where the trial judge and counsel differ as to their recollection of the testimony, and the judge instructs the jury that it is for them to determine from their own recollection what the witness said, the judgment will not be reversed, even thoug