Greene v. City of Philadelphia

• Decision Date: 11 February 1924
• Docket Number: 65
• Parties: Greene, Appellant, v. Philadelphia
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

124 A. 134

279 Pa. 389

Greene, Appellant, v. Philadelphia

No. 65

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

February 11, 1924

Argued January 14, 1924

Appeal, No. 65, Jan. T., 1924, by plaintiff, from order of C.P. No. 1, Phila. Co., Sept. T., 1919, No. 5211, refusing to take off nonsuit, in case of Emma L. Greene v. City of Philadelphia. Reversed.

Trespass for personal injuries. Before BARTLETT, J.

The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.

Nonsuit. Refusal to take off. Plaintiff appealed.

Error assigned was, inter alia, order, quoting record.

The judgment is reversed and a new trial granted.

George H. Detweiler, with him J. Fred'k Jenkinson, for appellant. -- The case was for the jury: Bruch v Phila., 181 Pa. 588, 591; McHugh v. Kerr, 208 Pa. 225; Becker v. Phila., 212 Pa. 379; Goff v Phila., 214 Pa. 172; Clark v. Phila. (No. 1), 46 Pa.Super. 253; Brown v. Milligan, 33 Pa.Super. 244; Walton v. Phila. (No. 1), 55 Pa.Super. 373; Kilbride v. Phila. (No. 1), 71 Pa.Super. 198; Butcher v. Phila., 202 Pa. 1.

Harry S. Platowsky, Assistant City Solicitor, with him Bernard J. O'Connell, Assistant City Solicitor, and Joseph P. Gaffney, City Solicitor, for appellee. -- The nonsuit was proper: Strayline v. Phila., 15 Pa. Dist. R. 387; Robb v. Connellsville, 137 Pa. 42; Easton v. Phila., 26 Pa.Super. 517; Lerner v. Phila., 221 Pa. 294.

Before FRAZER, WALLING, SIMPSON, KEPHART, SADLER and SCHAFFER, JJ.

OPINION

MR. JUSTICE FRAZER:

Plaintiff was injured by stepping into a hole in the sidewalk on which she was walking at night, on the east side of North Allison Street in the City of Philadelphia. The existence of a dangerous condition of the pavement for a period of from six to nine months was clearly shown and not denied, which established negligence of defendant. The trial judge entered a nonsuit on the ground of contributory negligence of plaintiff in failing to see the defect, which the court below subsequently refused to take off and this appeal followed.

The accident occurred at ten o'clock at night at a dark place of the street, the nearest light, a gas lamp, being located more than one hundred feet from the defective part of the pavement and behind plaintiff as she was walking with a friend, her two daughters being three or four feet in advance of her. It appears none of the parties saw the hole and the two ahead had passed it in safety when plaintiff stepped into it and fell. Plaintiff admitted she was engaged in conversation with her friend at the time and testified, in answer to the question whether she was paying attention to the sidewalk, "I do not suppose I was looking at it right close; we walked like anybody would walk along the street because it was dark. . . . Q. Were you paying close attention to where you were walking? A. As close attention I guess as anybody would walking along the street at night."

In entering a nonsuit the trial judge said the evidence of plaintiff failed to "show she was exercising the care which the law requires of a person walking along the street nor does the testimony show, if she did exercise the care which the law requires, any reason why she should not have seen this defect." We cannot agree that, under the circumstances, appellant was negligent merely because she failed to see the hole in the sidewalk. It was dark and her two daughters, who were but a few feet directly in front of her, had passed over the place in safety. It may well be that in the darkness shown to exist at the time a person using reasonable care would fail to observe the depression. Had the accident happened in broad daylight a different situation would be presented. But, happening at night, it cannot be said, as matter of law, that plaintiff was bound to see the danger ahead of her. She had a right to assume the pavement was in a reasonably safe condition: Goff v. Phila., 214 Pa. 172. Nor was she bound to keep her eyes fastened on the ground continually in order to discover possible danger. All that was required was that she observe where and how she was going so as to avoid such dangers as ordinarily prudent persons would notice: ...