58 Iowa 744 | Iowa | 1882
The principal question presented in this case is as to whether, under the proven and conceded facts, the defendant can be held to have been guilty of negligence. The injury of which the plaintiff ^complains was caused by a •neck yoke being thrown against her head by a horse running away with the shafts and cross-bar of a cutter. The accident occured in the town of Manchester on its principal street. The negligence is alleged to have consisted in leaving the neck yoke in such a place and in such a position that it was liable to be struck in the manner in which it was, and thrown
The neck yoke must have been about three feet long, and the tongue of the sleigh must have been suspended from the ground about a foot and a half. If a reasonable and prudent man had been asked at tbe time tbe neck yoke was left in dts upright position whether it was dangerous to persons passing on the sidewalk, he would, we think, have considered the question absurd. Again we may inquire, how many times it is probable that the neck yoke could be left in that position again fdr fifteen minutes at a time before it would be thrown against a person upon the sidewalk by any cause whatever? There is but one reasonable answer, and that is that there is scarcely a possibility that such accident would ever take place.
In our opinion there was no evidence of negligence, and the verdict should have been set aside.
Reversed.