Millar v. United Advertising Corp...
| Decision Date | 02 February 1944 |
| Docket Number | No. 11.,11. |
| Citation | 131 N.J.L. 209,35 A.2d 717 |
| Parties | MILLAR v. UNITED ADVERTISING CORPORATION. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from Supreme Court, Union County.
Action by Kathleen Millar against United Advertising Corporation for injuries sustained by plaintiff from a fall on an icy sidewalk. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Affirmed.
Francis A. Gordon, of Elizabeth, for plaintiff-respondent.
Cox & Walburg, of Newark (William H. D. Cox, of Newark, of counsel), for defendant-appellant.
This appeal is from a judgment rendered by the jury in favor of the plaintiff against the defendant, United Advertising Corporation, for personal injuries suffered by her from a fall on an icy sidewalk.
The proofs were that on February 5, 1941, the plaintiff, while walking on the sidewalk in front of premises in Plainfield, slipped upon ice, fell and was injured. The premises consisted of a one-story business building occupied by several stores. The roof in its entirety was leased by the owner to the defendant, who used it for advertising purposes, having erected thereon billboards to which access was had by a plank walk, known as a catwalk, in front of them. There was no right reserved in the lease of re-entry by the owner. The lease provided that the lessee make all necessary repairs to the roof. In 1939 the lessee installed a new roof consisting of tar paper, tar and asphalt and later made some repairs to the gutter. Water from the roof drained into the gutter and was carried to the street by a leader pipe from the roof to the sidewalk and by a pipe under the sidewalk to the street gutter. There was an ornamental galvanized iron cornice on the building.
The testimony was that on the day the plaintiff fell, water had dripped through a seam in the cornice below the roof level down to the sidewalk where it froze at the place where she fell. The tenant in the store nearest to the location of this ice testified that water leaked through this cornice at that place to the sidewalk whenever the roof was wet with snow or rain and that there had been a snow storm a few days before the plaintiff's fall. This condition existed for sufficient time to constitute constructive notice to defendant.
The action was against both the owner of the premises and the defendant advertising company, the lessee of the roof. The trial court granted a non-suit as to the owner but denied a non-suit and directed verdict as to the lessee. The appeal is based upon the latter ruling and also the Court's failure to charge the jury as requested. We think there was no error in refusing a non-suit or a directed verdict. Under the terms of its lease the defendant was in sole possession of the roof and under obligation to keep it in repair. There is testimony that the roof included the outlet to the leader and also that the defendant did include the gutter as part of the roof; at any rate, it assumed the duty to keep it in repair. We conclude that from the evidence the jury could find that the defendant had assumed the...
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Collopy v. Newark Eye and Ear Infirmary
...A.L.R. 933 (E. & A. 1919); Zwickl v. Broadway Theatre Co., 103 N.J.L. 604, 137 A. 570 (E. & A. 1927), and Millar v. United Advertising Corp., 131 N.J.L. 209, 35 A.2d 717 (E. & A. 1944); Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines v. Board of Pub. Utility Com'rs., 5 N.J. 114, 118, 74 A.2d 265 (1950,......
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Skupienski v. Maly
...across the public sidewalk and freezing. E.g., Saco v. Hall, 1 N.J. 377, 380, 63 A.2d 887 (1949); Millar v. United Advertising Corp., 131 N.J.L. 209, 211, 35 A.2d 717 (E. & A.1944); Zwickl v. Broadway Theatre Co., 103 N.J.L. 604, 606, 137 A. 570 (E. & A.1927). As contrasted with the above r......
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Gellenthin v. J. & D., Inc.
...5 A.L.R. 933 (E. & A. 1919); Zwickl v. Broadway Theatre Co., 103 N.J.L. 604, 137 A. 570 (E. & A. 1927); Millar v. United Advertising Corp., 131 N.J.L. 209, 35 A.2d 717 (E. & A. 1944); cf. War v. Mazzarella, 137 N.J.L. 736, 61 A.2d 284 (E. & A. 1948). However, it was apparent that this rule ......
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Skupienski v. Maly, A--120
...and snow from accumulating on the sidewalk below, citing Saco v. Hall, 1 N.J. 377, 63 A.2d 887 (1949); Miller v. United Advertising Corp., 131 N.J.L. 209, 35 A.2d 717 (E. & A.1944); Zwickl v. Broadway Theatre Co., 103 N.J.L. 604, 137 A. 570 (E. & A.1927). These decisions echo the common-law......