O'Neill v. Reading Railway Co.

10 Pa. D. & C. 709, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 247
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County
DecidedDecember 19, 1927
DocketNo. 125
StatusPublished

This text of 10 Pa. D. & C. 709 (O'Neill v. Reading Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Schuylkill County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Neill v. Reading Railway Co., 10 Pa. D. & C. 709, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 247 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1927).

Opinion

Bechtel, P. J.,

In this case the defendant filed-a motion for judgment n. o. v. and a motion for a new trial. In support of the motion for a new trial, the stereotyped reasons were assigned. Later on, defendant filed additional reasons as follows:

“1. The court erred in admitting evidence of Charles Green as to the speed of train.
“2. The court erred in admitting Carlisle Tables in evidence to show expectancy of life of the plaintiff.
“3. The court erred in sustaining objection to testimony of Charles W. Fister to show that, after the accident and before the trial, Henry Dornsife, witness for defendant, made statement to the witness Fister similar to what he testified at the trial, the cross-examination of Dornsife being for the purpose of attacking his credibility.
“4. The court erred in allowing plaintiff to testify what she paid to the undertaker.
[710]*710“5. The court erred in allowing evidence as to the claim for digging grave.
“6. The court erred in its charge to the jury as to what plaintiff’s son contributed to her.
“7. The court erred in its charge (pages 8 and 9) in the following: ‘Now, I will say to you in this connection, ladies and gentlemen, that it was the duty of the defendant’s employees in charge of the train to give timely and sufficient warning of its approach to the crossing. Failing to do this, in view of the circumstances of the case, such as the guarding of the crossing, ability of travelers to see the approaching trains, its rate of speed, and things of that sort, the plaintiff, in the absence of negligence on the part of the deceased, would be entitled to recover.’
“8. The court erred in its charge, in the face of positive evidence that O’Neill did not stop to look and listen, as follows: ‘Now, if you find that this young man did stop, look and listen, did he use care according to the circumstances in which he found himself? If he did not, he was guilty of negligence; and if he was guilty of negligence, the plaintiff, his mother, cannot recover. On the other hand, if he did exercise caution and was not guilty of contributory negligence, was the company guilty of negligence?’
“9. The court erred in not affirming defendant’s sixth point for charge, that, under all the evidence, the verdict should be for the defendant.”

The first reason in support of the motion for a new trial is not pressed upon us in the brief for the defendant. We do not feel, however, that any error was committed in admitting the evidence of Charles Green as to the speed of the train; in fact, if his testimony relative to his competency is to be believed, he was more competent than the average witness who testifies as to the speed of moving objects.

The second reason is also not pressed in the brief of counsel for the defendant. The admission of the Carlisle Tables in a case such as this is without doubt error) In this case, however, we are fully convinced that it was harmless, for the reason that the error was corrected in the charge of the court: “This woman is the mother of this young man. He was a minor; he was under the age of twenty-one. She was entitled to his earnings up until the time he should have been twenty-one.”

And, again: “First of all, no one knows how long we are going to live; and while it is entirely probable that this young man would have lived to have reached the age of twenty-one, still no one can say positively that he would have done so. . . . Further than that, if you decide to allow her compensation for loss of support or earnings of this young man, you must remember that you cannot figure that he would earn or give her so much per week, and multiply it by the number of weeks from the date of his death until he would have reached the age of twenty-one, if you thought he would have lived that long; but you must figure out the present worth of it, because she is anticipating; she is getting it now for then.”

In addition to this, the defendant’s fifth point was as follows: “5. The plaintiff is not entitled to recover for loss of her son’s earnings beyond a period of about two years and not after he became twenty-one years of age. A. We affirm that.”

It will thus be seen that the jury was instructed as a matter of law, positively and unequivocally, that it could award no compensation to the plaintiff for any time after her deceased son would have been twenty-one years of age.

In the third reason it is claimed that the court erred in sustaining objection to testimony of Charles W. Fister to show that, after the accident and before the trial, Henry Dornsife, witness for defendant, made statement to [711]*711the witness Fister similar to what he testified at the trial. Mr. Fister was called during the presentation of the defendant’s case sometime subsequent to Dornsife. The following question was asked: “Q. State whether or not, on the occasion of your visit to him1 (Dornsife) at the hospital, he made a similar statement to you? A. He did-.”

This was objected to; the objection was sustained, whereupon counsel for defendant made the following statement to the court: “That testimony seems to us to be quite pertinent. They have cross-examined Dornsife with the idea of attacking his veracity and credibility and recollection, and it has been decided frequently, if I recall it, that under such circumstances you can prove consonant statements made by the witness. It has been allowed in this court from the time of the Hester Case.”

To this statement counsel for plaintiff replied, whereupon the court again sustained the objection, saying: “As a general rule, declarations made by witness at another time, though admissible to contradict him, are not competent to confirm or corroborate his present testimony. Such declarations are mere hearsay. . . . However, there are some recognized exceptions to this rule, and under certain circumstances prior declarations of a witness, consistent with his present testimony, are admissible in corroboration of it. While it has been said in an early case that such evidence is admissible whenever his credit is impeached by attacking his character or by proof of inconsistent declarations made by him, or whenever his testimony is contradicted by other proof, this rule has been limited by later cases, in which it is declared to be the better rule that such evidence is admissible only when it is alleged that the testimony of the witness is a recent fabrication, or he is charged with having testified from corrupt motives, or his mental capacity has been attacked. . . . But the mere fact that the conflict of evidence is such that it can be explained only on the theory that one or the other of the opposing witnesses is wilfully fabricating his testimony, is insufficient to permit one to corroborate his testimony by calling other persons to say he had told them the same thing. . . . Nor is such evidence admissible in chief, but only after evidence has been given to contradict the witness.”

The rule in cases of this sort has been carefully considered and reiterated in Lyke v. The Lehigh Valley Co., 236 Pa.

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Bluebook (online)
10 Pa. D. & C. 709, 1927 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oneill-v-reading-railway-co-pactcomplschuyl-1927.