Case Name: DAVIS v. NEW YORK, L. E. & W. R. CO.
Court: New York Supreme Court, General Term
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1893-05-08
Citations: 23 N.Y.S. 358
Docket Number: 
Parties: DAVIS v. NEW YORK, L. E. & W. R. CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 23
Pages: 358–359

Head Matter:
(69 Hun, 174.)
DAVIS v. NEW YORK, L. E. & W. R. CO.
(Supreme Court, General Term, Second Department.
May 8, 1893.)
Expert Evidence—Fact in Issue.
In an action against a railroad company for damages for tlie death of plaintiff’s intestate, caused hy the giving way of a partition in a coal bin in which deceased was employed by defendant, it is error to admit expert testimony as to the safety of the bin. Pratt, J., dissenting. Ger-big v. Railway Co., (Sup.) 22 N. Y. Supp. 21, followed.
Appeal from circuit court, Rockland county.
Action by Maria L. Davis, as administratrix of Ira 0. Davis, against the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, to recover damages for the death of plaintiff’s intestate, caused by the giving way of a partition in a coal bin in which deceased was employed by defendant. From a judgment for plaintiff, entered on a verdict, and from an order denying a motion for»a new trial, defendant appeals.
Reversed.
Argued before BARNARD, P. J., and DYKMAN and PRATT, J J,
Lewis E. Carr, for appellant. .
Frank Comesky, for respondent.

Opinion:
BARNARD, P. J.
The death of the plaintiff's intestate was occasioned by the same accident which occasioned the injury to George Gerbig, whose case was heard upon appeal in the court at the last December (1892) term. 22 N. Y. Supp. 21. The questions put to the witness Ferguson, a civil engineer, calling for his opinion as to the safety of the crib which gave way and caused the accident, are similar in principle to the questions considered in the Gerbig Case. It was therein held that the questions admitted assumed the functions of the jury upon questions of fact. The judgment and order refusing a new trial should be reversed, and a new trial granted, costs to abide event, on the opinion in the Gerbig Case.
DYKMAN, J., concurs.