Kallman v. Triangle Hotel Co. of Pennsylvania
| Decision Date | 26 May 1947 |
| Docket Number | 3126 |
| Citation | 52 A.2d 900,357 Pa. 39 |
| Parties | Kallman v. Triangle Hotel Co. of Pennsylvania, Appellant, et al |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued March 26, 1947
Appeals, Nos. 41 to 46, March T., 1947, from order of C.P Allegheny Co., Oct. T., 1945, No. 282, in case of Mary Thomas Kallman v. Triangle Hotel Co. et al., Executors and Trustees Estate of A. W. Mellon, deceased, et al. Order reversed.
Trespass for personal injuries. Before KENNEDY, J.
Compulsory nonsuits entered as to additional defendants, representatives of Mellon Estates, and as to defendant Sun Drug Company verdict for plaintiff in sum of $3,000. Plaintiff's motion for new trial granted; motion of original defendant to take off nonsuit refused. Original defendant appealed.
The order of the court below is reversed and appellees are reinstated as party defendants. Costs to abide the result.
J. Roy Dickie, with him H. A. Robinson and Dickie, Robinson & McCamey, for appellant.
E. V. Buckley, with him Mercer & Buckley and Margiotti & Casey, for appellees.
Before MAXEY, C.J., DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON, STEARNE and JONES, JJ.
Mary Thomas Kallman brought this action in trespass against the Triangle Hotel Company, appellant, to recover damages for injuries sustained as a result of a fall in the rear of appellant's premises. The Sun Drug Company, and the Trustees and Executors of the A.W. and R. K. Mellon Estates, tenant and owners, respectively, of the adjoining property, were brought in as additional defendants by appellant which alleged that they were severally or jointly and severally responsible for the accident. At the conclusion of appellant's testimony a compulsory nonsuit was entered in favor of both additional defendants. A verdict for the plaintiff was set aside and her motion for new trial was granted because of inadequacy of the verdict. This appeal is from the order of the court below refusing to take off the compulsory nonsuit entered in favor of the adjoining property owners, the A.W. and R. K. Mellon Estates, appellees.
Mary Thomas Kallman, on December 28, 1943, was a guest at the Hotel Henry, which is owned and operated by appellant. Said hotel fronts on Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh. At about 7:45 P.M., Mrs. Kallman requested a bellboy to come to her room, carry her bags and packages to the lobby, and secure a taxicab for her at the main entrance of the hotel. The bellboy, one Leonard Cook, instead of complying with her request, informed her that she would have to take a taxicab from William Penn Way, a side street running at right angles to Fifth Avenue. He directed her to a loading platform at the rear of the hotel which abutted on Porter Way, a small alley running parallel with Fifth Avenue and at right angles to William Penn Way. To the right of and adjoining the hotel is the building owned by the additional defendants. Appellant contends that the accident occurred in the rear of this adjoining property. Porter Way, formerly used as a rear entrance to a theatre, at the time of the accident was used not only as the rear entrance to the Sun Drug Company but also by employees and guests of Hotel Henry and for general loading and unloading. It was a paved way, approximately 40 feet long and 20 feet wide. At the rear of the Mellon property was an unguarded area-way approximately 3 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 12 to 18 feet deep. This area-way was approximately 15 feet from the edge of appellant's loading platform.
The evidence is conflicting as to the precise spot where plaintiff fell. She testified that she fell as she stepped from the loading platform in the rear of the Hotel Henry that after she had fallen, her body rested on three separate levels. She offered no evidence regarding the property of the additional defendants. Appellant called two witnesses, -- Cook, the...
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