220 Pa. 194 | Pa. | 1908
Opinion by
The appellant had a contract with the appellee to put in a building owned or occupied by it a store window pane, and to place upon the same the sign “ William Butler Company.” In putting these letters upon the glass he was compelled to stand on a cellar door under the window. It consisted of four leaves or folding parts, each about fourteen inches in width, the two middle parts folding back upon the outer parts. The top of the letters was six feet and three inches above the cellar door, and when the appellant was putting them on, his
To do the work which he contracted to do for the appellee it was necessary for the appellant to stand on the cellar door, but he could stand safely on one-half of it only if the other half was kept closed. This the appellee knew as well as he, and warning was given it not to open a leaf while he was engaged on his work without notice to him. This warning was disregarded, and to hold that the appellant, as a matter of law, engaged as stated, was bound, before moving his foot an inch, to take his eyes from his work and look down to see whether his injunction had been disregarded, would be to hold him to a degree of care which a jury might fairly find to be unreasonable. The only inference to be drawn from the facts gathered from plaintiff’s testimony is by no means that he was guilty of contributory negligence, and that question, therefore, was not for the court, but for the jury : Iseminger v. York Haven Water & Power Co., 206 Pa. 591.
In appellant’s brief of argument it is stated that the non-suit was entered on the authority of Stackhouse v. Vendig & Co., 166 Pa. 582. There is no analogy between it and this case. There the plaintiff, in broad daylight, in stepping from the entrance to a hotel on to the sidewalk, stumbled over an obstruction which he would have seen if he had looked. We refused to permit a recovery because “ he took no heed of his movements. Had he been looking where he was going he
The judgment is reversed and a procedendo awarded.