Wells v. Erie Railroad

Citations

• 232 Pa. 330
• 81 A. 330
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 721

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Safe appliances — Duty to furnish and inspect — Inconsistency of statement — Evidence—Identification— Conflict of laws.</p> <p>1. In an action to recover damages for injuries resulting from an accident which occurred in New York state, the case is for the jury where it appears that the plaintiff, who was employed by defendant company in unloading heavy timbers, was hurt by reason of the breaking of a rope or sling, which caused a number of pieces of timber to fall upon him; that the rope or sling which broke had been furnished by the defendant, that it had been prepared by. the men working on another job, that it had been continuously in use three or four years, although the limit of its safe use was fixed by some of the witnesses at from eight months to a year; that it had not been inspected, was weather-beaten, worn and rotten and unfit to sustain anything like the weight required; without anything to show that any other slings which might have been used were sufficient and suitable for the particular use to which the defective rope was being applied, and without any evidence being offered by the defendant to show that it had furnished sufficient or suitable rope. Vogel v. Bridge Co., 180 N. Y. 373, distinguished.</p> <p>2. In such a case there is no inconsistency in a statement which alleges first, that the ropes and appliances used in lashing the timbers were old, rotten and insufficient; and second, that they were not properly inspected; since both relate to the same feature of negligence.</p> <p>3. In such a case the testimony of witnesses who examined a broken rope after the accident and described its condition, is properly submitted to the jury even though they did not identify completely the rope they saw with the one which broke, where the uncontradicted evidence is that but one broken sling was seen on the job, the coincidence in the admitted facts making it more reasonable to conclude that the rope which the witnesses