Wachsmith v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 233 Pa. 465
• 82 A. 755
• 1912 Pa. LEXIS 853

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Imputed negligence — Automobiles—Passenger —Contributory negligence.</p> <p>In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for personal injuries, the case is for the jury where it appears that the owner and operator of an automobile was engaged to take a lunatic to an asylum; that the plaintiff and another attendant, who were in charge of the lunatic, were seated with him on the back seat; that they were traveling on a borough street which crossed the defendant company’s road at grade; that the buildings on either side of the street shut off any view of the railroad until a point eighteen or twenty feet from the tracks was reached, from which there was an unobstructed view for several hundred feet; that the driver, when twenty-five or thirty feet from the track, slackened the speed of the automobile almost to a full stop and then suddenly started it forward and ran onto the crossing, where the automobile was struck by a shifting engine of the approach of which no notice was given; and it further appears that the lunatic became excited as the speed of the automobile was slackened, and the plaintiff’s attention was partly directed to him, but he looked and listened for trains, and plaintiff testifies that he saw the driver of the automobile slacken its speed until it was almost at a standstill and he thought the driver was going to bring it to a full stop.</p>