Dooley v. Pennsylvania Railroad

64 Pa. D. & C. 110, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 112
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland County
DecidedJuly 12, 1948
Docketno. 104
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 64 Pa. D. & C. 110 (Dooley v. Pennsylvania Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dooley v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 64 Pa. D. & C. 110, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 112 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1948).

Opinion

Troutman, J.,

Plaintiff, Mae M. Dooley, brings this action against' the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, defendant, to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by her on February 23,1947, when the automobile in which she was riding as a guest passenger was struck by a train of defendant, Pennsylvania Railroad Company, at the Rock Street crossing in the Borough of Shamokin, this county. Plaintiff alleges that her injuries were caused by the negligent manner in which defendant’s train was being operated.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company then filed its defendant’s complaint after having joined Leon E. Misco and the Borough of Shamokin as additional defendants. In its complaint, defendant contends that the injuries suffered by plaintiff were caused either by the negligence of Leon E. Misco, the driver of the car in which she was riding or the negligence of the Borough of Shamokin in improperly maintaining the street or by their joint negligence and not by any negligence of defendant, Pennsylvania Railroad Company; or in the event that it should be determined that there is any liability against defendant on account of the injuries and damages suffered by plaintiff, then [112]*112either one or both of the additional defendants are jointly liable with it to plaintiff.

After defendant’s complaint was served on both Leon E. Misco and the Borough of Shamokin, as additional defendants, each additional defendant filed preliminary objections to defendant’s complaint. Thereafter, defendant filed preliminary objections to Misco’s preliminary objections. These preliminary objections are now before the court for disposition.

The Borough of Shamokin, one of the additional defendants, filed three preliminary objections to defendant’s complaint. These objections question the legal sufficiency of the averments contained in paragraphs 8, 26, and 27 of defendant’s complaint.

Paragraph 8 of the complaint alleges that on the date of the accident the Borough of Shamokin was under a legal duty to maintain Rock Street at its point of intersection with the tracks of defendant, Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The objection which the Borough of Shamokin makes to this allegation is that defendant should set forth the nature of the duty allegedly owed by the Borough of Shamokin to Mae M. Dooley, plaintiff. The averment contained in paragraph 8 of plaintiff’s complaint is a simple allegation as to what authority had the duty to maintain the street. It does not contain any allegation of a responsibility from the Borough of Shamokin to any individual, but rather avers a general duty on the part of the Borough of Shamokin to maintain the street in regards to any member of the traveling public who may use the same. The allegation is clear and definite and easy of answer. The Borough of Shamokin, in its answer, can either admit that it had the duty of maintaining the street, or, if such be the fact, deny such duty. Defendant attempts to aver the nature of this duty in paragraph 26 of its complaint.

It is incumbent for a borough to keep the streets, roads and bridges, over which it has jurisdiction, in [113]*113proper repair: McLaughlin v. City of Corry, 77 Pa. 109, 112. The averments of paragraph 8 of the complaint set forth such a legal duty. In respect to this paragraph, the second preliminary objection is without merit.

The first preliminary objection complains that the averments' of paragraph 26 of defendant’s complaint are not sufficiently defined and specific to enable the Borough of Shamokin to determine how it failed to maintain Rock Street adjacent to the point of collision in a condition safe for use by vehicular traffic; how it failed to keep the northern approach on Rock Street to the said crossing, free from ice and snow; how it failed to warn the vehicular traffic approaching the said crossing from the north, of the alleged slippery condition of the highway; in what other respects it failed to have due regard for the rights of plaintiff, Mae M. Dooley, and others; and in what other respect it negligently and unlawfully failed to properly maintain the said Rock Street at its northern approach to the aforesaid intersecting tracks of said defendant.

Paragraph 26 of defendant’s complaint lists five specific particulars in which defendant claims that the Borough of Shamokin was at fault. In this paragraph it is set forth that the borough failed to maintain the street in a condition safe for use by vehicular traffic; that it failed to keep the approach to the crossing free from ice and snow; that it failed to warn vehicular traffic of the slippery condition of the highway; that it failed in other respects to have due regard for the rights of users of the highway; and that it otherwise negligently and unlawfully failed to properly maintain the street. To each of these allegations the Borough of Shamokin contends that defendant must allege in its complaint exactly how or in what respect the borough failed in its duty.

The question raised by the first preliminary objection of the Borough of Shamokin is whether the allega[114]*114tions of paragraph 26 of defendant’s complaint are sufficiently clear and definite to apprise the Borough of Shamokin of the charge which it would be required to meet and defend at the trial. The third preliminary objection raises a question as to the legal sufficiency of the complaint to show any cause of action against the Borough of Shamokin.

A borough is liable for damages arising from the neglect of its officers in not keeping the streets over which it has jurisdiction, in proper repair. However, a municipality is, in general, not liable for accidents resulting from the icy condition of its streets and walks: Coyle v. New Kensington, 336 Pa. 401.

The rules governing the liability of a municipality for the condition of its streets and pavements have been well defined by many decisions.

In Borough of Mauch Chunk v. Kline, 100 Pa. 119, 121, Chief Justice Sharswood, speaking for the court and quoting from McLaughlin v. City of Corry, supra, page 113, says: “A. municipality cannot prevent the general slipperiness of its streets caused by the snow and ice during the winter, but it can prevent such accumulations thereof in the shape of ridges and hills as render their passage dangerous.”

One of the best summaries is found in Bailey v. Oil City et al., 305 Pa. 325. The court says at page 327: “A municipality is, in general, not liable for accidents resulting from the icy condition of its streets and walks. . . . This is so because of the practicable impossibility of keeping cartways and sidewalks free from ice in this climate during the winter season. Rains followed by freezing often cover an entire city with ice in a few hours, as does the melting of snow during the day and freezing at night. It would therefore place an unreasonable and practically impossible burden upon a city to require the maintaining of its streets free from ice; this the law does not require.

[115]*115“It is, however, a city’s duty to cause the removal from the walk's of such substantial ridges or hills of ice or snow as constitute an obstruction to travel . . . it must appear either that the city had actual notice of the obstrucion or that it had existed so long as to amount to constructive notice.” See McDonough v. Munhall Borough, 331 Pa. 468, 472.

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Bluebook (online)
64 Pa. D. & C. 110, 1948 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dooley-v-pennsylvania-railroad-pactcomplnorthu-1948.