219 Pa. 614 | Pa. | 1908
Opinion by
Where, in an action of negligence, the only evidence as to the cause of the accident is such as is derived by inference from conditions existing after the occurrence, and these conditions suggest several causes, either of which operating by itself would have been adequate to the result, and the defendant is without responsibility except as to one, there can be no recovery unless the conditions point to the cause to which defendant’s responsibility attaches, with such degree of certainty as would justify a jury in finding it to have been the proximate cause. A finding -where the evidence does not measure up to this standard would be a mere balancing of probabilities. A defendant’s negligence is not to be determined in this way. And this suggests the weakness of the plaintiff’s case. The same testimony which was relied upon to show that the walls of defendant’s building were insufficient to support the superstructure which he had contracted to have built, and about which plaintiff’s husband was engaged when he lost his life, because some specimens of the mortar used in their construction, on examination were found to be lacking in cement, and therefore lacking in binding strength, showed that two legs of the iron or steel tripod on which rested the large tank filled ivith water, were bent. This tripod, for the support of the tank, was so constructed that two of the legs rested on the outer wall of the building and the other on an
Judgment affirmed.