Petras v. Pub. Serv. Transp. Co.

• Citation: 136 A. 189
• Decision Date: 10 February 1927
• Docket Number: No. 64.,64.
• Parties: PETRAS v. PUBLIC SERVICE TRANSP. CO.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

136 A. 189

PETRAS

v. PUBLIC SERVICE TRANSP. CO.

No. 64.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Feb. 10, 1927.

Action by Joseph Petras against the Public Service Transportation Company. Verdict for plaintiff. On rule to show cause. Rule absolute.

Argued October term, 1926, before the CHIEF JUSTICE and TRENCHARD and MINTURN, JJ.

Joseph Coult and Henry H. Fryling, both of Newark, for the rule.

Lum, Tamblyn & Colyer, of Newark, opposed.

PER CURIAM. The plaintiff, while in the act of crossing Roseville avenue, in the city of Newark, about 7 o'clock in the morning of May 1, 1925, was struck by defendant's auto-bile. He had proceeded some 12 feet, and was near the middle of the street at the time, when he was struck. He saw the bus, he says, when it was about 150 to 200 feet away, but apparently paid no more attention to it. Instead of observing the highway, and its incidental dangers and hazards, he was reading a newspaper as he walked, and so proceeding walked in front of the bus without observing its proximity or taking heed of the traffic conditions which under such conditions endangered his life. Under those circumstances he is clearly guilty of contributory negligence, which bars recovery, regardless of the inquiry whether the driver of the automobile himself was negligent in not observing the plaintiff. Brady v. Consolidated Traction Co., 63 N. J. Law, 25, 42 A. 1054; Newark Pass. By. Co. v. Block, 55 N. J. Law, 605, 27 A. 1067, 22 L. R. A. 374.

The rule will be made absolute.