Wren v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 100 Wash. 67
• 170 P. 342
• 3 A.L.R. 1123
• 1918 Wash. LEXIS 698

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations—Sidewalks—Snow and Ice—Instructions. Abstract instructions as to the nonliability of a city for accidents occasioned solely by slipperiness caused by accumulations of snow and ice are incorrect where they did not contain the qualification that the accumulation had not been permitted to remain for an unreasonable length of time.</p> <p>Same. A requested instruction as to the nonliability of a city for accidents occasioned solely by slipperiness caused by accumulations of snow and ice is properly refused where it assumed, contrary to all evidence, that the sidewalk was covered with a smooth coating of ice and snow.</p> <p>Same—Sidewalks— Defects — Proximate Cause — Instructions. Where plaintiff’s fall upon a defective sidewalk was due to a broken board, and his foot passed between the boards of the walk, an instruction as to the nonliability of the city for accidents occasioned solely by slipperiness by snow and ice is properly refused as outside the issues.</p> <p>Appeal—Review—Harmless Error—Instructions. An instruction as to the duty of a city to mark dangerous places in the sidewalk is not prejudicial error, although outside the issues, where the jury were repeatedly instructed that the plaintiff could not recover unless injured in the manner alleged in the complaint.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations—Sidewalks—Proximate Cause. That the slippery condition of a sidewalk is a concurring cause of an accident upon a defective walk does not exonerate the city.</p>