Stidham v. Mayor and Commissioners of Delaware City
| Decision Date | 11 June 1907 |
| Citation | 67 A. 175,22 Del. 359 |
| Court | Delaware Superior Court |
| Parties | CALVIN P. STIDHAM, JR., v. THE MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS OF DELAWARE CITY |
Superior Court, New Castle County, May Term, 1907.
ACTION ON THE CASE (No. 145, February Term, 1907), to recover damages for injuries to plaintiff's horse alleged to have been caused by stepping into an excavation in one of the streets of Delaware City on the ninth of December, 1906.
Verdict for plaintiff for $ 25.00.
George N. Davis for plaintiff.
Daniel O. Hastings for defendant.
OPINION
PENNEWILL, J., charging the jury:
Gentlemen of the jury:--This is an action brought by Calvin P. Stidham, Jr., against the Mayor and Commissioners of Delaware City, a municipal corporation of this State, to recover damages for injuries to the plaintiff's horse alleged to have been caused by stepping or falling into a hole or excavation in Clinton Street in said town, on the ninth day of December, 1906.
The plaintiff claims that the defendant negligently and carelessly permitted said excavation or hole to be and remain in a dangerous and unsafe condition without any proper safeguards or warning to travelers, and that by reason thereof the said horse stepped or fell into the said excavation or hole, and was greatly injured and has continued so to be; that on account of said injury to his horse, the plaintiff has been deprived of his use and services, and has incurred expense in attempting to cure the horse and in buying another in the place of the one injured.
The defendant denies that it was guilty of any negligence that caused the injuries complained of, and claims that if the horse was injured at all it was on account of the negligence of the plaintiff himself, and not of the defendant. It also claims that if the horse was injured, it was not injured by stepping or falling in the hole or excavation, and that the plaintiff cannot, therefore, recover in this action; and further claims that the horse was not sound before the accident, as is alleged by the plaintiff, but on the contrary was, before that time, lame and sore.
It is admitted that the defendant had jurisdiction and control of the streets of the town of Delaware City at the time of the alleged accident, and that Clinton Street, whereon it is claimed the injury occurred, was one of the streets of said town, and therefore a public highway of the County.
The streets of a town or city are for the use of the public and for the public convenience. It is the duty of those having control of them to excercise due care and diligence in keeping them in a reasonably safe condition, free from holes pits, excavations or obstructions, so that they may be safe for the traveler, on foot or otherwise, who...
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