Case ID: pa_202/html/0324-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Per Curiam,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Glading v. Philadelphia, Appellant.
    
      Negligence — Municipalities—Defective sidewalk.
    
    In an action against a city to recover damages for personal injuries caused by falling in a hole in a sidewalk, the case is for the jury, where the evidence for plaintiff tends to show that the hole had been in the sidewalk for about six months, and at the time of the accident was filled with dust and sweepings; that it was in a pavement of a crowded thoroughfare in the central part of the city ; that the plaintiff knew nothing of the hole, and that she was walking as persons ordinarily walk on a crowded street.
    Argued March 24, 1902.
    Appeal, No. 379, Jan. T., 1901, by defendant, from judgment of C. P. No. 4, Phila. Co., Dec. T., 1900, No. 454, on verdict for plaintiff, in case of Louisa Glading v. City of Philadelphia.
    Before McCollum, C. J., Dean, Fell, Bkown, and Mestjrezat, JJ.
    Affirmed.
    Trespass to recover damages for personal injuries.
    At the trial it appeared that on September 18, 1900, plaintiff while walking in the daytime on Arch street near Eighth street in the city of Philadelphia fell as a result of stepping in a hole in the middle of the pavement, and was seriously injured. It appeared that the hole had been in the pavement six months before the accident, and at the time of the accident was filled with dust and sweepings. Plaintiff described the accident as follows:
    “ Q. As you were progressing up on the north side of Arch street, what happened to you ? A. As I was walking along Arch street, there was a number of persons passing by, and my left foot went in the hole. Q. As you wore going up the street, were other people going along? A. Yes, sir, quite a number going backward and forward. I walked along and never knew anything until I got my foot in the hole — until I fell. I was walking along the same as I always walk along the street. I was not looking at anything. I was walking along the same as I always walk along the street. I didn’t see the hole before I fell. I never knew there was a hole there. Quite a number of people were passing backward and forward. When the men picked me up I wanted to see what caused my fall; I noticed the hole.”
    April 21, 1902:
    Verdict and judgment for plaintiff for $2,000. Defendant appealed.
    
      Error assigned was in submitting the case to the jury.
    
      Howard A. Davis, assistant city solicitor, with him John L. Kinsey, for appellant.
    
      Eugene Raymond, for appellee, was not heard.
   Per Curiam,

The plaintiff was injured by stepping into a hole filled with dust and sweepings. It was in the pavement of a crowded thoroughfare in the central part of the city. Whether under the circumstances she exercised reasonable care was clearly a question for the jury.

The judgment is affirmed.