McPherson v. City of Buffalo

13 A.D. 502, 43 N.Y.S. 658
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 15, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 13 A.D. 502 (McPherson v. City of Buffalo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McPherson v. City of Buffalo, 13 A.D. 502, 43 N.Y.S. 658 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1897).

Opinion

Hardin, P. J.:

To sustain the allegations of the complaint the plaintiff produced evidence tending to show that there was an accumulation of ice and snow along the walk at the point where he received the injury of which he complains. The evidence relating to the condition of the walk is very similar to that produced at the Circuit held by inc where the case of Evans v. The City of Utica (69 N. Y. 166) was on trial. In that case it was said by the Court of Appeals, viz.: “ The question whether the plaintiff was chargeable with contributory negligence was a question of fact which was properly submitted to the consideration of the jury.” In that case it was claimed that the plaintiff was notified of the condition of the walk before passing over it, and in respect to that aspect of the case the opinion in the Court of Appeals observes : “Assuming that he was notified, the inference by no means follows that the plaintiff was negligent. * * * ' As the case stands, it cannot be properly urged that, as a matter of law, contributory negligence- was manifest so as to justify a nonsuit. Nor is there any ground for claiming that the danger of passing over the ice was so apparent that the plaintiff had no right to proceed after he discovered the condition of the walk.”

In Smith v. Ryan (29 N. Y. St. Repr. 672) it was held: “ It is not negligence per se for a person knowing the defective condition of a [504]*504sidewalk to pass over it; in doing so he is only required to exercise the care and caution which a person of ordinary prudence would exercise in like circumstances.”

In Pomfrey v. Village of Saratoga Springs (104 N. Y. 460) it was said, viz.: “ The evidence tended to show that this embankment of snow and ice was perfectly visible; there was a light covering of recent snow over the ice,” and it was held, “ A refusal of the court to .charge as matter of law that it was negligence for plaintiff,under the circumstances, to attempt to pass over the embankment was not error.”

In Bullock v. The Mayor (99 N. Y. 654) it was held that “A passenger upon a street has a right to use its sidewalk, although knowing it is in an unsafe condition, and, if injured,'it is a question for the jury whether he was guilty of any carelessness which contributed to the injury.”

In Goff v. The Village of Little Falls (47 N. Y. St. Repr. 729) it appeared that snow had been allowed to accumulate to the depth of three inches, and it also appeared that, on the day of the accident, there had been storm and sleet covering the sidewalk with a coating of ice, and it was held that the proofs justified the submission of the question of the defendant’s negligence to the jury;" and, also, as stated in the" language of Mabtin, J., viz.: “ We are also of the opinion that the question whether the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence was, under the evidence, a question for the jury, and the court could not have properly held as a matter of law that the plaintiff was negligent.” (Citing numerous cases.)

In the course of the opinion delivered in Sherman v. The Village of Oneonta (49 N. Y. St. Repr. 267; S. C. affd., 142 N. Y. 637) it was said : “ We are of the opinion that, upon all the evidence, the question whether the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence was for the jury. "The plaintiff had a right to assume that all parts of the street intended for travel were reasonably safe, as the defendant was under an absolute duty to keep its streets in a reasonably safe condition for public travel; and was bound to exercise reasonable diligence and care to accomplish that end. We are of the opinion that the trial court properly refused to take from the jury the question whether the plaintiff was free from contributory negligence, and also properly refused to set aside the verdict upon that ground.”

[505]*505In the case in hand, the evidence which was offered in behalf of plaintiff upon the question of his prudence and care at the time he received the injuries, was such that, within the principles and authorities which we have referred to, we are of the opinion that the trial court was called upon to submit the question of the plaintiff’s freedom from contributory negligence to the jury, and that their verdict in that respect ought not to be disturbed.

(2) Upon the question whether the defendant was guilty of negligence which caused the injuries' received by the plaintiff, or not, we think there was evidence given upon the part of the plaintiff tending to' establish that the defendant had been derelict in its duty in respect to the street at the point where the plaintiff received the injuries. Two or three days after the injury one witness testifies that he examined the walk at the point where the accident occurred and found nine inches of ice. Several other witnesses detail the circumstances relating to the condition of the walk tending strongly to indicate that it was left in an unsuitable condition for a period of time sufficient to attract the attention of the city authorities. True, there is evidence given on the part of'the defendant which, to some extent, tends to mitigate, as well as contradict, the evidence offered by the plaintiff, and, under the circumstances disclosed in the evidence, we are of the opinion that the trial judge committed no error in submitting the question as to the defendant’s negligence to the jury, and that their verdict is sustained by evidence warranting the conclusions reached by the jury. The evidence, in the case in hand differs quite essentially from the evidence and circumstances disclosed in Durr v. Village of Green Island (71 Hun, 260).

And the case in hand differs very essentially in its facts from Kinney v. City of Troy (108 N. Y. 567). In that case it appeared that three days before the accident the sidewalk was all right; and in the course of the opinion in that case it was said: “ But here there was no accumulation, and it can scarcely be said there was unevenness at the place of the accident. * * * It does not appear that ordinary care had not been exercised to keep the walk safe for use in the usual mode by travelers, nor that it was not so.”

We think that the case in hand differs from Harrington v. City of Buffalo (121 N. Y. 147). In the course of the opinion delivered in. [506]*506that case it was said: “ The proof fails to show that there was any unusual or dangerous obstruction to travel arising from snow of ice in the street, or, even if there was, that any such lapse of time had intervened between the period of its creation and the occurrence of the accident as afforded a presumption of knowledge in the municipality of its condition, or opportunity to remove the obstacle after notice was received.”

Clifford, a witness called for the defendant, and who was its street inspector, said that West Ferry street was a part of his district, and that he knew where the vacant lot was on the south side of West Ferry- street where the man is supposed to have fallen, and he says that it was clear prior to the first of 'February, and on 'the twenty-ninth of January, and on the sixteenth of January, and. on the fifteenth of January, and on the second of January, and that his duty took him there very frequently, and that he observed it, and he testified, viz. : “This is report No. 13,779. That is what I wrote on that report.' This is 13,816. That is my signature. That is for February -9tli.

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Related

Beck v. City of Buffalo
63 N.Y.S. 499 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1900)
Richardson v. City of Syracuse
41 A.D. 118 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1899)
O'Brien v. City of Syracuse
31 A.D. 328 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1898)

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Bluebook (online)
13 A.D. 502, 43 N.Y.S. 658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcpherson-v-city-of-buffalo-nyappdiv-1897.