9 A.2d 415 | Pa. | 1939
Plaintiff, a garage proprietor, brought an action in trespass against defendant to recover damages for substantial injuries to his back which he sustained when the trunk lid of defendant's sedan fell on him just after he had crawled into the back of the luggage compartment to remove a dangling chain. In his statement of claim he alleges, inter alia, that the "braces or hinges on each side of the upper part of the door to the luggage compartment had been for some time, so carelessly, recklessly and negligently maintained that they had become defective and permitted the door to suddenly and without any warning fall upon the plaintiff herein." The negligence alleged was defendant's failure "to maintain the door to the luggage compartment . . . in a proper state of repair," and "to give warning to the plaintiff of the defective condition when he knew of" it.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $11,140.00. Defendant's motions for judgment n. o. v. and for a new trial were refused and judgment was entered for plaintiff. This appeal followed.
Appellant, defendant below, contends, inter alia, that plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case against him and that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence. *262
Plaintiff, aged 45, testified that on August 17, 1937, after defendant's car had been greased and oiled, and while he was putting air in the tires, he noticed a chain hanging down in the back of the luggage compartment, that he asked defendant if he wanted the chain taken out and upon receiving an affirmative answer, he "lifted the lid up as far as it would go" and took his "left hand and pushed the catch in as far as it would go." The compartment has a bottom space for the spare tire and an upper space for luggage. The plaintiff crawled in under the bottom space, and, as he says, "the trunk lid came down" across the lower portion of his back in the lumbar region, and that, at the time, he (defendant) was standing to the "right and facing the rear end of the car, five or six feet" away. He testified further that defendant visited him at the hospital a day or two after the accident and told him "it was his [defendant's] fault, and he knew it [the lid] had dropped down several times before, and he could have prevented it, if so minded, . . . he could have got there in time to do it if he just thought, but he was busy talking to a party there, and he wasn't paying a whole lot attention to what I was doing."
The doctor who was called to the garage to attend the plaintiff, testified that while there defendant stated that "that catch on the lid of the rear compartment let go and struck the patient in the small of the back, the patient slumped into unconsciousness and slid out onto the ground," and that defendant subsequently stated that "he was sorry that he didn't think to warn him [plaintiff] of the bad catch, and that he had had trouble with this on several occasions before at home."
Plaintiff's brother, U. Grant Boak, testified that after the accident defendant told him that "he knew that the catch on it [the lid] was defective, and he felt a certain amount of responsibility due to the fact that he had not warned Earl [the plaintiff]; and furthermore, *263 since he was standing so closely to the back end of the car, he could have easily held the lid up himself."
After the accident defendant had the hinge "removed from his car" and there was testimony by automobile mechanics to the effect that there was no defect in the hinge and that when the hinge is pushed back in position to lock it, the weight of the trunk will hold it.
Defendant was asked on direct examination: "What did you tell him [plaintiff] about the hinge?" He answered: "I told him that I knew that the lid of that trunk would fall because the hinge was defective." He then explained what he meant by "defective," as follows: "That if it [the hinge] was not properly adjusted, pushed back after the lid was raised, it would not support the lid if the car was moved." He also said that "the lid had fallen on me several times" when "I did not push the hinge back into the proper position." He explained the statement which plaintiff testified he (defendant) had made to him in the hospital, as follows: "I told him [plaintiff] how much I regretted the accident, how sorry I was that it happened, and how sorry I was that my car was involved in any accident that hurt him."
Appellant asks: "What legal liability under the circumstances was upon the defendant?" In answer to that query we call attention to what we said in Ebbert et al. v. Phila. ElectricCo.,
Do the facts of this case make the above principles applicable? Appellant earnestly contends as follows: "There is not one iota of evidence on the part of the plaintiff to show that either the hinges, the door to the luggage compartment, the lid as we call it or the trunk lid, had any defect in them, or was out of repair in the slightest way whatsoever. . . . This catch is the only thing that is talked about in this case, no other hinge, no other part of the door, no other part of the equipment involved in any wise in plaintiff's claim." Counsel explains defendant's admissions as follows: "The defendant who was a friend of the plaintiff regretted the accident, thought there was some way in which he could have prevented it, had he been near enough, for instance, to hold up the top, the plaintiff might as well requested him to hold it up had the plaintiff thought there was any danger, or as a precaution to his going into this place where a lid might fall. . . . Each individual who is human, wishes after an accident occurred he had done something which may have prevented it."
The fact must be recognized that plaintiff's case would be much stronger had there been direct proof in support of his claim. However, a litigant is not limited to direct proof when he is seeking to support his allegations. Circumstantial evidence is legal evidence and as Chief Justice GIBSON said inCom. v. Harman,
In the instant case the plaintiff was injured by the falling of the door or lid which he had lifted for a proper purpose. Since he was a garage repairman acquainted with the work he was doing, it is a fair inference that he lifted this door or lid as he had in the course of his work doubtless lifted many others. That it fell upon him supports an inference that there was something wrong with the holding mechanism. We said inPope v. Reading Co.,
The judgment is affirmed.