Brossman v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Co.

• Citation: 113 Pa. 490,6 A. 226
• Decision Date: 04 October 1886
• Docket Number: 58
• Parties: Brossman v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Co
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

6 A. 226

113 Pa. 490

Brossman v. Lehigh Valley Railroad Co

No. 58

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

October 4, 1886

Argued March 9, 1886

ERROR to the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton county: Of January Term 1886, No. 58.

This was an action on the case brought by Catharine Brossman against the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company to recover damages for the death of her husband, caused by the alleged negligence of the said company.

The following are the facts of the case as they appeared on the trial, before SCHUYLER, J.:

William Brossman, husband of the plaintiff, was employed by the defendant company on a night freight train. He entered their employment late in August, 1879, and was killed on October 18th, following.

The train on which he ran left Easton about 8.30 P.M. that evening. When they reached East Penn. Junction the train took on four cars, which were to be left at Hokendauqua. This place is about four miles above the junction. Between these two places there are three or four bridges across the railroad, under which the cars had to pass, at all of which the space between the bridge and cars did not permit the standing brakeman to pass under them.

The duty of deceased at or about the time of the accident was to find or assist in finding the cars which were to be left off at Hokendauqua. Frank Hart, the fellow brakeman, says, at the junction they took on four cars for Hokendauqua. They were together, and formed one continuous line by themselves, and when one was found the brakeman then had them all.

Hart and Brossman, the two brakemen, after leaving the junction station, while the train was going at thirty-five miles an hour, at which rate it would require about eight or ten minutes to go from the station to Hokendauqua, had to find these cars and be on them in order to detach them at Hokendauqua while the train was in motion. It was Brossman's duty to detach the cars. He was to cut them from the train below, and Hart was to cut them off above, and then Brossman was to hold the rear cars, these four among them. He was to hold the lower cars with the brake, and Hart would shift them in. The train was to be cut in two, and Brossman was to be at the brake of the rear cars. He and Hart had passed from one car to another on the top, and had already been on three.

They had not found the four particular cars for which they were hunting. Hart just then imagined he had lost a waybill, so he went in search for that, and Brossman helped him. It appears that they were not found till after the accident. The way-bills were in Hart's charge. There is no evidence that Brossman had any duty to perform as to them.

Hart and Brossman were on one car. Hart was stooping down to look over his way-bills. Brossman came and was going to step over to help him count the way-bills, when the accident happened.

The plaintiff proved that the bridge was fifteen feet high, and that the car on which Brossman was, was twelve feet high that the train was running at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour; that there were no lights to indicate the position of the bridge; nothing to warn the men that they were approaching the danger; that it was impossible to see the bridge on that night; that there were ten other bridges of the same height, within five miles of this one; that the defendant company had erected the bridge. The plaintiff claimed that the company were guilty of negligence in exposing Brossman to unnecessary risk; that the failure of the company to provide proper safeguards caused his death. The Court on motion entered a compulsory nonsuit, and subsequently refused a motion to strike it off, deciding 1st, that Brossman was guilty of contributory negligence, and 2d, that the defendant was not guilty of negligence, filing the following opinion:

Where a railroad company voluntarily subjects its employes to dangers which it ought to provide against, and an accident happens to an employe from a want of proper provision against such danger, the company is undoubtedly liable. But, on the other hand, it is not liable for accidents happening from the ordinary risk and dangers of the business, for it is a legal presumption that the servant assumed the risk of such accidents when he entered the service of the company. Again we may further extend this rule by saying that the servant or employe assumes the risk of all dangers, however they may arise, against which he may protect himself by the exercise of ordinary observation and care: Pittsburgh &amp Connelsville R.R. Co. v. Sentmeyer, 11 Norris, 280.

This may be very poor law. I think it is otherwise; but, whether good or bad, it is the law of this state, and to it the judges of the state must yield obedience. If, therefore, the evidence given by the plaintiff above shows that the accident by which Brossman lost his life could have been prevented by the exercise of ordinary observation and care on his part, then the plaintiff cannot recover. Let us see how the fact is.

According to the plaintiff's own showing, William Brossman, for nearly two months immediately preceding his death, had been in the employ of the defendant as regular brakeman. During this time he frequently passed under the bridge where he lost his life. Before he became regular brakeman, he had acted as extra brakeman about nine months, in which capacity he also passed and repassed under this bridge many times. He, therefore knew, or what amounts in law to the same thing, he had an opportunity to know the exact location of the bridge, how high it was, and just how much care was required to avoid collision with it. The night on which he lost his life was very dark and "fearfully stormy," a fact which, in itself, would have quickened any man of ordinary prudence into greater watchfulness. The train on which he was employed had taken on four cars at East Penn Junction, which he knew to be only a short distance below the bridge, and thus he had notice that the bridge was near at hand. He was on the top of a car which was too high to admit of his safely passing under the bridge without stooping.

Can there be any question that it was his duty under such circumstances, to be on a sharp lookout? How was the fact? As the train was nearing the bridge, Frank Hart, a fellow brakeman, was standing on one of the box cars in a somewhat stooping position, examining his waybills, and Brossman stood alongside of him, the two lighted lanterns of the men being near by. Hart's account of the situation is as follows: "Then I thought I had lost one of my waybills, and we came back again, and just as I stooped down to count my waybills the bridge hit him. He was going to stoop over at the same time to help count the waybills, and then this thing happened. The following questions put to Hart on cross-examination, with his answers, throw further light on the subject: "Q. You did not watch out for the bridge, did you? A. No; we had our mind on our work. Q. And neither you nor Brossman watched out for the bridge? A. No; we did not think of it." Was a bolder case of contributory negligence ever brought before a Court?

But it is argued that, nevertheless, the question of contributory negligence was for the jury. I do not so understand the law. The foregoing are the uncontradicted facts, as shown in the plaintiff's own testimony. "In such a case," says AGNEW, C.J., in Central Railroad v. Feller, 4 W.N., 160, "the question becomes one of law." And in Penna. R.R. Co. v. Werner, 8 Norris, 64, STERRETT, J., says: "When the facts are admitted, or so clearly and conclusively proved as to admit of no reasonable doubt, it is the duty of the Court to declare the law applicable to them."

But there is another difficulty in the way of the plaintiff's recovery quite as serious as the one we have been considering. Whilst it is true, as we have seen, that where a railroad company voluntarily subjects its employes to dangers which it ought to provide against, and an accident happens to an employe from a want of proper provision against such danger, the company is undoubtedly liable; it is at the same time equally true, that where the danger is an obvious one, of which the employes either had or ought to have had knowledge, in every such case there arises a legal presumption that the employe assumes the risk.

In Green & Coates Streets Passenger Railway v. Bresmer, 10 W.N., 380, MERCUR, J., says: "A servant, however, assumes the risk naturally and reasonably incident to his employment. He is not bound to risk his safety in the service of his master, and may if he see fit, decline any service in which he reasonably apprehends injury to himself. Inasmuch as the relation of master and servant cannot imply an obligation on the part of the master to take more care of the servant than he may reasonably be expected to take care of himself, the servant cannot complain if he is injured by exposure, after having the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the risks of his employment and accepts them."

So, in Owen v. New York Central Railroad Company, 1 Lansing, 108, the Supreme Court of the state of New York lay down a law as follows: "An employe, who contracts for the performance of hazardous duties, assumes such risks as are incident to their discharge, from causes open and obvious, the dangerous character of which he has had opportunity to ascertain. A brakeman, in the employ of a railroad company, while discharging duties in the line of his employment upon the roof of a freight car, was carried against a highway bridge and sustained injuries, for which he brought an action against his employer. The brakeman had entered into the employment of the company, with knowledge of the position and height of the bridge, and he had opportunity of informing himself as to its...