Kaley v. Wartluft

45 Pa. D. & C. 581, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 219
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lebanon County
DecidedSeptember 19, 1942
Docketno. 24
StatusPublished

This text of 45 Pa. D. & C. 581 (Kaley v. Wartluft) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lebanon County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kaley v. Wartluft, 45 Pa. D. & C. 581, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 219 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1942).

Opinion

Ehrgood,,P. J.,

This matter comes before the court on a motion to dismiss filed under Pa. R. C. P. 2256 (a) on behalf of Hershey Transit Company, a Pennsylvania corporation, attacking the order of this court directing the joinder of the said Hershey Transit Company as an additional defendant. The motion to dismiss alleges that the original defendant has failed to set forth legal grounds for joining the additional defendant, in that the said petition is defective in substance and does not state a good cause of action.

The facts are as follows:

An action in trespass was instituted in this court to the above number and term, by the above-named plaintiff, against the original defendant. A statement of claim alleged that the action was brought by reason of injuries sustained by plaintiff, William M. Kaley, on January 21,1941, between the hours of 3 and 4 o’clock p.m., on West Main Street, in the Borough of Palmyra, Lebanon County, while plaintiff was, at the time and place aforesaid, alighting from the street car, then and there operated under the control of the employe of the additional defendant, and that after alighting from said street car he was hit and injured by a motor vehicle driven and operated by the original defendant.

After suit was instituted, and within the period prescribed by the Rules of Civil Procedure, the original [583]*583defendant filed a petition praying that the court issue an order to bring in as an additional defendant the Hershey Transit Company. In response to the prayer of said petition, upon presentation of the same, and without hearing thereon, the court made an order joining the said Hershey Transit Company as an additional defendant.

After service by the sheriff of a copy of said order of joinder, and a copy of plaintiff’s statement of claim, affidavit of defense and answer filed on behalf of the original defendant, the said Hershey Transit Company filed the motion to dismiss which is now before the court for consideration and action. The motion alleges as a reason for dismissal that “additional defendant avers that Clara M. Wartluft, original defendant in the above-entitled action, petitioner aforesaid, has failed to set forth jurisdictional and legal ground for joining Hershey Transit Company as additional defendant, etc.”, and then proceeds to answer seriatim the allegations of negligence chargeable to additional defendant alleged in the petition, and makes answer thereto.

The allegations, upon which original defendant relies in his petition to state a good cause of action against the additional defendant, are contained in paragraph 7(c) of said petition, which reads as follows:

“7(c) Said trolley car was then and there operated by the said motorman, the said agent, in a negligent and unlawful manner, inter alia, as follows:
“1. Said trolley car was stopped to discharge passengers between intersections, in the middle of a block, and not at an intersection.
“2. Said trolley car was stopped without giving any notice or warning of its intention to stop and discharge a passenger or passengers.
“3. Said trolley car was stopped and the employe of the Hershey Transit Company, for the time being in charge of its operations, opened the door of said trolley car, between intersections and without warning, and [584]*584permitted a passenger to alight from the said trolley-car in the path of oncoming traffic, without warning or signal to the oncoming traffic or to the said passenger.
“4. Said trolley car was operated by the person then and there being in charge of same, and being the agent and employe of the said Hershey Transit Company, in such negligent and unlawful manner as to cause injury to its passenger, a certain William M. Kaley, then and there alighting therefrom without due regard to the oncoming traffic and to the condition of the highway and the travel thereon.
“5. The said Hershey Transit Company did not provide due and proper warning signals or other signals of the fact that its trolley car would stop at a point other than an intersection so as to warn other users of the highway.
“6. The said Hershey Transit Company did not provide the said trolley car with a proper warning signal, either mechanical or manual, that said trolley car was about to stop between intersections, in the middle of a block, and at a place not normally to be expected by oncoming traffic and other users of the highway.
“7. The said Hershey Transit Company neglected its duty to refrain from opening the doors of its trolley car for the discharge of a passenger when the passenger’s way was not safe, did so open the door of its trolley car and invited the passenger to alight at a place of danger, without any warning to the passenger or to the oncoming traffic and to other lawful users of the highway.
“8. The said Hershey Transit Company, by its agents, then and there unlawfully and negligently operated and stopped the trolley car and permitted and invited a passenger to alight therefrom without any warning to oncoming traffic and without any consideration whatsoever for oncoming traffic or other lawful users of the highway, and without any consideration for passenger and his well-being and safety.”

[585]*585Paragraph (6) of Rule 2252 provides as follows:

“The petition shall contain a statement framed in the manner and form required for the initial pleading of a plaintiff in an action at law, setting forth the residence and citizenship of the proposed additional defendant, the facts relied upon to establish his liability and the reasons for his joinder in the action.”

The original defendant’s allegations of the alleged negligence consist of the transit company’s trolley car being stopped to discharge a passenger between intersections; of stopping said trolley car without giving notice or warning of the proposed stop and discharge of said passenger; that said trolley car was stopped and the passenger permitted to alight therefrom between intersections and without warning to oncoming traffic or to said passenger; that additional defendant did not provide warning signals with which to warn users of the highway that its trolley car would stop at a point other than an intersection.

In determining whether the petition establishes a prima facie liability of defendant, the court should consider only the legal sufficiency of the averments in the petition. The question for the court to determine is whether the allegations contained in additional defendant’s petition contain averments of fact sufficient to charge additional defendant with negligence which was the proximate or concurring cause of plaintiff’s injury. The facts alleged in the petition indicate that additional defendant’s street car was being operated upon its track facilities on a public highway of the Borough of Palmyra, in the daytime, in an easterly direction, and the operator thereof had brought said street car to a stop, opened the exit door thereof, and that plaintiff passenger had alighted therefrom when struck by the motor vehicle operated by the original defendant. The street car was stopped between intersections without warning, but in full sight of oncoming traffic, and without any allegation that the view of oncoming [586]*586traffic was obstructed.

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Related

Maguire v. Doughty, Admr.
191 A. 348 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)
Reid v. Scranton Transit Company
12 A.2d 553 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1940)
Murtha Et Ux. v. Phila.
197 A. 513 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
45 Pa. D. & C. 581, 1942 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaley-v-wartluft-pactcompllebano-1942.