211 Pa. 245 | Pa. | 1905
Opinion by
There is no rule of law nor any decision of this court that would sustain a jury in finding by imaginary inference that a brick which struck a plumber’s employee while working on the second story of a building in course of construction, was negligently thrown down, or knocked off, or tumbled over, or caused to fall, by two employees of a different contractor engaged in building scaffolding for brick layers on the fifth floor, no testimony having been offered to show that there were any bricks at or near the place where the scaffold builders were working. There is no doubt that if defendant or his employees caused the brick to fall which struck the plaintiff, inflicting the injuries complained of, an action in trespass would lie to recover damages. In order, however, to sustain this action the plaintiff must affirmatively show that the employees of defendant caused the brick to fall. He can do this by direct and positive testimony or by showing that defendant’s employees were in position to have caused the accident, and by the exclusion of all other causes, make out a prima facie case for the jury. The difficulty with this case is that plaintiff has not met either requirement. No direct evidence was produced to show
Judgment affirmed.