73 Pa. Super. 353 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1920
Opinion by
The plaintiffs recovered verdicts, — for Sarah Pretty-man, the minor daughter $1,000, and for George Prettyman, the father, $525, in the court below in an action of trespass for personal injuries sustained by the daughter in being trampled upon in a rush of excursionists on
The defendant owned and operated an excursion boat plying between Philadelphia and Trenton, stopping on occasions at Burlington Island Park, an amusement park on an island in the Delaware river, near Trenton. To make the park accessible there was erected a pier or wharf about 800 feet long by 30 to 40 feet wide, sufficient to accommodate 3,000 people, with a river front T as a landing, of ample proportions and properly safeguarded. Gates were erected at the park end of the wharf to regulate the passage of persons to and from boats to the amusement grounds. . The park and the wharf were owned, controlled and operated by the Burlington Island Park Company, the defendant company having but a permit or privilege to stop at the end of the wharf to discharge and receive passengers.
• Three Philadelphia churches selected the park as a place for holding a picnic organized by them; and under an arrangement with the appellant the churches sold tickets for transportation from Philadelphia to and from the park by the appellant’s boat, they to receive part of the proceeds and have control of all the advertising incidental for the excursion. On the day of the accident, July 28, 1917, the picnic was held and a large crowd of persons including the minor plaintiff attended. About six p. m. they gathered at the park gate, leading to the wharf, and there waited until about seven p. m., when the boat arrived and the crowd was admitted through the gates.
The controlling facts are not in dispute and the plaintiff’s narrative, with that of her present husband, who was with her at the time, may fairly be taken as describing the situation: The boat was supposed to come in at six o’clock, and “all of us got ready for the boat. When the colored people, who were visitors at the park, but not of the excursion party, saw the boat coming in they broke through the gates and rushed to the front end of
The controlling question in the light of the admitted and undisputed facts is whether, under all the circumstances, the defendant, as a public carrier, was reasonably bound to anticipate this unexpected and unwarranted excitement by an excursion crowd. It was held in Muhlhause v. St. Ry. Co., 201 Pa. 237, and followed in Coyle v. P. & R. Ry. Co., 256 Pa. 496 (the general principle applying with equal force to this case), “A carrier must furnish a safe and sufficient means of ingress to, and egress from its trains. It is likewise incumbent upon it to exercise ordinary care in protecting from danger persons assembled at its stations, intending to depart by its trains. Rudeness and bad manners of strangers and intending passengers, resulting in injuries, will not convict a carrier of negligence. Such conduct is not to be anticipated, and the carrier is not required to provide against it. But when a street car company invites the public to use its line to visit a park, or other public place of amusement or recreation, and thereby induces large crowds of people to assemble at
The facts in these cases are essentially different from the ones presented by this record. The crowd in this case was not larger than ones frequenting the park on similar occasions, and it is not suggested in the evidence that there was ever such disturbance and lawlessness at such meetings. The fact that it was a picnic conducted under church influence, would certainly not indicate that such a disturbance would be likely to occur, or that the defendant company should be put on notice of any unusual demonstration of force and lawlessness. This part of the crowd was law-abiding and orderly, and the sole cause of the disturbance was from other visitors in the park who had no right to get on the boat.
It was clearly shown by uncontradicted testimony, that the facilities for getting to and on the boat were adequate, had the persons conducted themselves in a
Kennedy v. Penna. R. R. Co., 32 Pa. Superior Ct. 623, deals with an entirely different situation, where the disorder was long continued, without remonstrance on the part of those in charge of the station. As said in Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Ry. Co. v. Hinds, 53 Pa. 516, “It is not the duty of 'railroad companies to furnish their trains with a police force adequate to such emergencies. They are bound to furnish men enough for the ordinary demands of transportation, but they are not bound to anticipate or provide for such an unusual occurrence as that under consideration.” So too, in this case. Those in charge of the gangplank were simply overmastered, and the only ground upon which the plaintiff could charge negligence would be in not supplying a counter force sufficient to repel the intruders. In Barlick v. B. & O. R. R. Co., 41 Pa. Superior Ct. 87, we held: “Precaution is a duty only so far as there is reason for apprehension, and a jury cannot be permitted to hold parties to a higher standard of care than the law imposes, nor to find anything negligence which is less than a failure to discharge a legal duty. The law does not require anyone to presume that another will be negligent, much less to presume that another may be an active wrongdoer: Philadelphia & Reading Company v. Hummell, 44 Pa. 375.” We said in Bright v. Penna. R. R. Co., 69 Pa. Superior Ct. 188, “The degree of care required of a carrier is the highest, in maintaining and guarding those whom it transports against such dangers as may be reasonably anticipated, or naturally expected to occur, but in every case called to our attention in
The plaintiff was the victim of an unjustifiable act of rudeness from persons, who were impudent intruders on a peaceful body of picnickers, but it is not easy to discover how the defendant company could or should have anticipated such unexpected violence. Where the facts are either admitted or established by undisputed evidence, it is the duty of the court to declare the law applicable to them. The rule in such cases is aptly summarized in Hoffman v. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, 214 Pa. 89, “We have frequently said that negligence is the want of care under the circumstances. It does not follow, however, that a jury can be permitted to draw inferences of negligence in the absence of evidence from which such negligence may be reasonably inferred. A jury cannot be permitted to hold the defendant to a higher standard of care than the law requires. It is, therefore, of primary importance in every such case that the plaintiff should establish by affirmative testimony some negligent acts from which a jury can infer want of care. If the evidence does not show, nor tend to show, negligence, there is no question for the jury to determine: Merrigan v. Evans, 221 Pa. 1; Eigenbrodt v. Williamsport, 44 Pa. Superior Ct. 440.
A careful examination of the whole record fails to disclose any lack of care or affirmative act of negligence, direct or inferential, on the part of the defendant, to warrant a submission to a jury. The defendant’s point, for binding instructions, should have been affirmed, and the jury directed to return a verdict in its favor.
The judgment is reversed, and it is ordered that judgment be entered non obstante veredicto for the defendant.