Pascuzzi v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.

6 Pa. D. & C.2d 108, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 484
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Beaver County
DecidedJanuary 13, 1956
Docketno. 15
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Pa. D. & C.2d 108 (Pascuzzi v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Beaver County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pascuzzi v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 6 Pa. D. & C.2d 108, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 484 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1956).

Opinion

McCreary, P. J.,

The above action in trespass was instituted against defendant, Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, for recovery of damages caused to plaintiffs’ home in Baden, resulting from an explosion which occurred on August 10, 1948, at the slag dock at the Aliquippa Works Division of said corporation at Aliquippa, Beaver County. Plaintiffs’ case was tried on the theory that said explosion occurred as the result of the negligence of defendant corporation, by its workmen and employes, in negligently dumping and permitting molten slag to run down and into a pocket of water which had accumulated in a low spot in the pit of said slag dock, where slag was regularly dumped in connection with the operation of its steel business. On the basis of the entire testimony presented, the jury found that defendant corporation, by its workmen and employes, was in fact negligent and thereupon returned a verdict in favor of plaintiffs for damages in the sum of $1,932.

Following the conclusion of the trial and the rendition of the aforesaid verdict, counsel for defendant filed a motion for judgment n. o. v. and a motion for a new trial, the reasons assigned in support thereof being as follows:

“1. The verdict was contrary to law.
“2. The verdict was against the weight of the evidence.
[110]*110“3. The verdict was contrary to law and against the weight of the evidence.”

Within 30 days after the record was transcribed defendant assigned additional reasons in support of both motions in language as follows:

“I. The defendant moves for judgment n. o. v. on the grounds that the plaintiff’s case is based on an allegation of negligence on the part of the defendant and it is not such negligence that the plaintiff is excused from proving her case to the jury by the fair weight and preponderance of the evidence.
“II. The Court erred in admitting the testimony relating to negligence of the following witnesses: (a) Paul G. Henry, (b) E. H. Houck.
“HI. The Court erred in permitting to be read into evidence a portion of an inter-office memorandum of the defendant, identified at the time of trial and copied into the record, although not marked as an exhibit.
“IV. If the testimony and evidence enumerated in Paragraphs II and III hereof had not been submitted to the jury over the objection of the defendant, there would have been no evidence on which the jury could have found negligence on the part of the defendant.
“V. The verdict in the amount of $1,932.97 was excessive.”

Motion for Judgment n. o. v.

The verdict of the jury was not contrary to law, nor was it against the weight of the evidence. It is well supported by the testimony of the witnesses, both in the matter of the jury’s finding of negligence and in the amount of the verdict. As a matter of fact, the amount of the verdict was well within the limits of the amount of damages testified to by the witnesses for the respective parties. No one testified on behalf of defendant as to the cause of the explosion.

Such being the state of the record, we cannot con[111]*111sider, on a motion for judgment n. o. v., the alleged error on the part of the court in admitting the testimony of Paul G. Henry and E. H. Houck. In considering a motion for judgment n. o. v. the court may not eliminate evidence on the ground of its inadmissibility and then enter judgment n. o. v. on the diminished record: Cherry et al. v. Mitosky et al., 353 Pa. 401; Henry Schenk Company v. Erie, 352 Pa. 481; Donegal Township School District v. Crosby, 171 Pa. Superior Ct. 372. In the present state of the record the court cannot, under the law, enter judgment n. o. v. for defendant.

Motion for a New Trial

We come then to consider whether any of the reasons assigned in support of the motion for new trial1 have any merit. Certainly the allegation that the verdict was contrary to law or against the weight of the evidence finds no support in the record, nor is there any basis for the charge that the verdict was excessive. The amount of the verdict was exclusively a jury matter, and it cannot be said that the amount of the verdict for property damages, namely, $1,932.97, was excessive. The record of the testimony would have supported a much higher verdict. The only assignment of error that deserves discussion is the one which alleges that the court erred in admitting the testimony relating to negligence recited by Paul G. Henry, lower level foreman in the open hearth department of defendant company, on duty at the time of the explosion, the particular operation involved in the explosion being under his supervision, and the testimony of E. H. Houck, the superintendent of safety and welfare at the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation Aliquippa Works, whose duty it was to make a thorough investigation of the cause of the explosion and who did make such investigation the next day and report the same to his superiors.

[112]*112In the first place, the testimony of Agostino Trombetta, the craneman at the slag dump where the explosion occurred on the early morning of August 10, 1948, in itself is sufficient basis for a finding of negligence which was the proximate cause of the explosion. In testifying as to the cause of the explosion, he said, pages 13-15:

“A. That’s dirt ground, yes, not concrete or — it is ground, yes.
“Q. Ground?
“A. Yes.
“Q. That floor, on that night, was it level?
“A. No level.
“Q. Well, you tell the Jury, in your own way, about that floor, a hundred by fifty?
“A. It was a hole; some place level; you got bucket over there, load cars standing over here, standing over there.
“Q. This night you worked did you have an explosion — did an explosion take place while you were working there, August 10th, 1948?
“A. That was explosion what?
“Q. Did you have an explosion there that night?
“A. That night?
“Q. Yes.
“A. Yes.
“Q. How long after you came on your duty at midnight did the explosion take place?
“A. Well, I don’t know exactly; I didn’t have no watch — maybe one, two o’clock — I don’t know.
“Q. I see. Now, this particular bucket that caused the explosion, did it have molten steel and cinders and slag in it?
“A. Well, I don’t know, maybe have steel inside too moist.
“Q. Moist?
[113]*113“A. Maybe.
“Q. Did you upset the bucket?
“A. Box, yes.
“Q. The box. Did you take it off the buggy with the crane?
“A. Yes.
“Q. Where did you haul it to with the chains, with the crane — where did you take it?

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6 Pa. D. & C.2d 108, 1956 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 484, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pascuzzi-v-jones-laughlin-steel-corp-pactcomplbeaver-1956.