Stevenson v. Sarfert
| Decision Date | 27 March 1933 |
| Docket Number | 323,322 |
| Citation | 310 Pa. 458,165 A. 225 |
| Parties | Stevenson et al. v. Sarfert, Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued January 4, 1933
Appeals, Nos. 322 and 323, Jan. T., 1932, by defendant, from judgments of C.P. No. 1, Phila. Co., Dec. T., 1930, No. 5203 on verdicts for plaintiffs, in case of James Stevenson et al v. Harry Sarfert. Affirmed.
Trespass for personal injuries. Before BARNETT, P.J., specially presiding.
The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.
Verdicts for plaintiffs aggregating $10,000 and judgments thereon. Defendant appealed.
Error assigned, inter alia, was refusal of judgment n.o.v., quoting record.
The case was for the jury and it was correctly submitted. The judgment is affirmed.
Thomas Raeburn White, of White, Schnader, Maris & Clapp, with him Wayland H. Elsbree, for appellant. -- If other causes exist which might have been responsible for the accident, and they are not excluded from consideration by the evidence, the jury will not be permitted to guess as to what actually did cause the accident and the case must be withdrawn from their consideration: McAvoy v. Kromer, 277 Pa. 196; Stahl v. Sollenberger, 246 Pa. 525; Rittle v. Zeller, 100 Pa.Super. 516.
Walter I. Summerfield, of Summerfield & Romm, for appellee, cited as to negligence of defendant: Frank v. Cohen, 288 Pa. 331; Rankin v. Baking Co., 272 Pa. 108; Johnson v. Abbotts Dairies, 295 Pa. 548.
Before FRAZER, C.J., SIMPSON, KEPHART, SCHAFFER, MAXEY, DREW and LINN, JJ.
The minor plaintiff, a child five years old, was injured by an automobile while on his way home from school shortly after twelve noon on December 18, 1930. His school was on the northeast corner of Paul and Unity Streets, about 130 feet from the scene of the accident. On the west side of Paul Street there was another school about 150 feet south of the spot where the child was struck. With two companions this boy was proceeding south on the sidewalk on the east side of Paul Street. The block between Unity Street and Culvert Street, which is southward, was 251 1/2 feet long. About 100 feet south of Unity Street and on the west side of Paul Street was a gas station owned by one Carpino. On the day in question Carpino's car was parked directly opposite the entrance to his gas station, and near the east curb of Paul Street. The opposite curbs were 26 feet apart. Just as the child reached the parked Carpino car, he was called by some boys standing on the west side of Paul Street, and leaving his companions began to cross Paul Street to join the boys who had called him. He proceeded in either a westerly or northwesterly direction to a point in the approximate center of Paul Street where he came in contact with defendant's car, sustaining injuries to his tongue, right knee, foot, and back. The lumbar injuries necessitated the removal of one of his kidneys.
Defendant at the time was driving his car in a northerly direction along Paul Street at a speed concerning which there was strongly conflicting testimony. One witness who saw the defendant's car when it was 75 feet from the point of the accident testified that the car was running at a speed of 45 miles an hour. It is apparent that defendant upon first seeing the minor plaintiff hastily applied his brakes and that his car thereafter skidded from 15 to 20 feet until the right front wheel caught the child's right foot, and then skidded three or four feet further. This fact was evidenced by the skid marks of the tires and the mark left by the shoe of the foot which was caught under the right front tire.
Defendant's car was a 1929 model about four and a half feet wide and the defendant himself declared it was in good condition. The streets were dry. It was testified that a car such as defendant's, and running at a speed of 15 miles an hour, would under like circumstances skid no more than six feet after the brakes were applied.
Paul Street at the scene of the accident was a school zone within which by signboards posted at both ends motorists were warned to reduce their speed to fifteen miles an hour. Section 1002 (b) 2 of the Act of May 1, 1929, P.L. 905, provides that all vehicles, except those restricted to lower maximum speeds when passing a school building, during school recess or while children are going to or leaving school during opening or closing hours, must reduce their speeds to a rate not exceeding fifteen miles an hour. The phrase "passing a school building" does not limit the application of this humane and salutary provision of the law to the space in the street immediately in front and back and at the sides of a school building. The presence at the sides of a street of groups of children should always stimulate a driver's caution. Defendant was aware of the fact that he was in a school zone; he had often seen the signboards in this zone and he knew that it was an hour when children customarily leave school for lunch. He testified...
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