Johnston v. Director General of Railroads

Citation133 A. 158,286 Pa. 166
Decision Date12 April 1926
Docket Number3
PartiesJohnston v. Director General, Appellant
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Argued March 16, 1926

Appeal, No. 3, March T., 1926, by defendant, from judgment of C.P. Allegheny Co., Jan. T., 1921, No. 1933, on verdict for plaintiff, in case of Mary Johnston v. Director General of Railroads, John Barton Payne, operating the Pennsylvania System. Affirmed.

Trespass for personal injuries. Before CARPENTER, J.

The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.

Verdict and judgment for plaintiff for $5,000. Defendant appealed.

Error assigned was refusal of motion for judgment n.o.v., quoting record.

The judgment is affirmed.

Robert D. Dalzell, of Dalzell, Fisher & Dalzell, for appellant. -- The mere happening of an accident without showing it to have been in some way connected with the means of transportation is not sufficient to raise a presumption of negligence against the carrier: Laing v. Colder, 8 Pa. 479; Thomas v. R.R., 148 Pa. 180; Herstine v R.R., 151 Pa. 244; Cline v. Rys. Co., 226 Pa 586; Cawley v. R.R., 44 Pa.Super. 340; Mulligan v. Traction Co., 241 Pa. 139; Zenzil v. R.R., 257 Pa. 473.

W. Clyde Grubbs, with him J. Weinman Cratty, for appellee. -- In this case the carrier failed to keep and maintain the car platform in a safe condition; this fact cast the burden on the carrier to disprove negligence: Bickley v. R.R., 257 Pa. 369; Fern v. R.R., 250 Pa. 487.

Before MOSCHZISKER, C.J., FRAZER, WALLING, SIMPSON, KEPHART, SADLER and SCHAFFER, JJ.

OPINION

MR. JUSTICE FRAZER:

Plaintiff, a passenger on a local vestibuled train of defendant company leaving the City of Pittsburgh at 5:35 on the evening of December 13, 1918, was injured, on reaching her destination, by falling through an open trapdoor in the vestibule platform of the car, while passing from the car to the station platform. She recovered a verdict for $5,000 and, upon the court below discharging defendant's rule for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; and entering judgment thereon, this appeal followed.

The accident occurred at Wilkinsburg, where the station platform is elevated and level with the platform of vestibuled passenger coaches, and, in entering or leaving cars of that description, passengers, instead of using the steps to reach the station platform, pass over a trapdoor, covering the steps, directly to the station floor. Trapdoors on coaches of this description are held in place by a spring lock or catch which is released by a push lever located near the edge of the door. On pressing the lever downward with the foot, the catch is opened, and the trapdoor automatically rises and folds back against the end of the car, allowing ingress and egress by the car steps at points where the station floor is below that of the car platform. If the vestibule door is closed, the trapdoor is prevented from rising, and if open it remains in place, if properly locked or the catch is not defective, until pressure is placed on the releasing lever.

Plaintiff testified that upon the train stopping at Wilkinsburg she passed down the aisle to the vestibule platform, following two or three other passengers, who in leaving the car crossed over the trapdoor to the station platform, that "The man ahead of me was a distance of about three feet, and just as I was in the act of stepping onto the door, it came up and I went down on the steps," and "as the last man passed over the door ahead of me, the door came up" and further that after other passengers had assisted her from between the cement wall of the platform and the car steps "the door was just swinging on a balance." Although she admitted not having seen the door rise, it appears the passengers who preceded her had crossed over it in safety and that it raised, as plaintiff was in the act of stepping on it; the conclusion necessarily follows that for some unexplained reason the door suddenly sprang up as the passenger ahead of plaintiff stepped from the car to the station platform.

An employee of defendant testified the trapdoor was inspected immediately after the accident and the lock or catch found to be in proper condition. The vestibule outer...

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10 cases
  • Dupont v. Pa. R. Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • January 2, 1940
    ...equipment or its operation which led to his injury. See Fern v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 250 Pa. 487, 95 A. 590; Johnston v. Director General, 286 Pa. 166, 133 A. 158; Mink v. Philadelphia Rapid Trans. Co., 93 Pa. Super. 63. But, in all of these cases it is to be noted that the accident was one......
  • Orms v. Traction Bus Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • May 27, 1930
    ...negligence is cast on the carrier which it must disprove: Meier v. P.R.R. Co., 64 Pa. 225; Fern v. P.R.R. Co., 250 Pa. 487; Johnston v. Director General, 286 Pa. 166. as stated in Blew v. P.R.T. Co., 227 Pa. 319, it is not every injured passenger who can recover damages in an action against......
  • Orms v. Traction Bus Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • May 27, 1930
    ...v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 64 Pa. 225, 3 Am. Rep. 581; Fern v. P. R. R. Co., 250 Pa. 487, 95 A. 590; Johnston v. Director General, 286 Pa. 166, 133 A. 158. But, as stated in Blew v. Phila. Rapid Transit Co., 227 Pa. 319, 76 A. 17, 18, it is not every injured passenger who can recover dam......
  • Pantuso v. Pittsburgh Motor Coach Co.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • November 16, 1948
    ...206, 89 A. 1131, 52 L.R.A., N.S., 259; Bickley v. Philadelphia & Reading Ry. Co., 257 Pa. 369, 101 A. 654; Johnston v. Director General, 286 Pa. 166, 169, 133 A. 158.’ See O'Malley v. Laurel Line Bus Co., 311 Pa. 251, 166 A. 868. There is no evidence in the instant case that the driver knew......
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