Court Opinion

ID: 9692140
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 15:44:09.398238+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:31.850602
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION BY
Judge SMITH-RIBNER.
I respectfully dissent because I believe that Appellant Leslie Asbury produced evidence sufficient to satisfy the threshold requirement of the “jerk or jolt” doctrine and to allow the case to go to the jury. The essence of the “jerk or jolt” doctrine was summarized by the Supreme Court in Staller v. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., 339 Pa. 100, 103-104, 14 A.2d 289, 291 (1940):
It is well established by a long line of decisions that testimony indicating that a moving trolley car jerked suddenly or violently is not sufficient, of itself, to establish negligence in its operations. There must be a showing of additional facts and circumstances from which it clearly appears that the movement of the car was so unusual and extraordinary as to be beyond a passenger’s reasonable anticipation, and nothing short of evidence that the allegedly unusual movement had an extraordinarily disturbing effect upon other passengers, or evidence of an accident, the manner of the occurrence of which or the effect of which upon the injured person inherently establishes the unusual character of the jolt or jerk, will suffice.
Asbury’s treating physician, Dr. Neus-chwander, testified during his deposition as follows: “It takes a lot of trauma to break a femur. We usually — most people that slip and fall don’t break their femur.” Transcript at p. 28. Dr. Neuschwander later repeated: “I mean, like I said before, it takes a lot of force to break a femur. So in terms of exactly how it happened, I’m not exactly clear, but she had enough force to cause a femur fracture, correct.” Id. at pp. 37-38. Dr. Neuschwander also made the following comments at page.9 of the deposition transcript:
Q: And what was your diagnosis following your review of the films?
A: She had a mid femur — mid femoral shaft fracture with a butterfly fragment which means she had a fracture in the mid part of her thigh bone with another piece of the bone broken off at the outer edge.
Q: And the lateral butterfly fragment, how does an injury like that occur?
A: I mean, it takes a significant amount of trauma to break a femur. So I can’t tell you for sure. She had a fall, and so she may have had some twisting component or it may have been due to bending movement — or bending injury to her leg, but it takes a lot of trauma to cause a femur fracture.
I am persuaded that based on the testimony of Dr. Neuschwander and Asbury, *93the trial court should have denied the motion for compulsory nonsuit filed by Port Authority Transit of Allegheny County. Considered in its totality, the testimony satisfies Staller’s requirement that there be evidence “that the movement of the car was so unusual and extraordinary as to be beyond a passenger’s reasonable anticipation.” Staller, 339 Pa. at 103-104, 14 A.2d at 291. A plaintiff may raise a factual question requiring submission of the case to the jury by showing “evidence of an accident, the manner of the occurrence of which or the effect of which upon the injured person inherently establishes the unusual character of the jerk or jolt.” Connolly v. Philadelphia Transportation Co., 420 Pa. 280, 283, 216 A.2d 60, 62 (1966) (emphasis added).1 Furthermore, the plaintiff need not show a vehicular accident but only that the plaintiffs accident establishes the unusual character of the vehicle’s jolt. Meussner v. Port Authority of Allegheny County, 745 A.2d 719 (Pa.Cmwlth.2000).
The jury could reasonably infer from the extent of Asbury’s injury and the testimony of Dr. Neuschwander that the jolt of the bus was so unusual and extraordinary as to be beyond Asbury’s reasonable anticipation.2 Thus, I would reverse the trial court’s order refusing to remove the compulsory nonsuit and denying Asbury’s request for a new trial and remand the case for further proceedings.

. See Kleine v. Pittsburgh Rys. Co., 252 Pa. 214, 97 A. 395 (1916) (testimony that plaintiff thrown from car onto street and that child almost thrown from plaintiff's arms sufficient to present negligence issue to jury); Sanson v. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., 239 Pa. 505, 86 A. 1069 (1913) (plaintiff's being thrown through trolley car doorway and onto street created prima facie case of negligence); Tilton v. Philadelphia Rapid Transit Co., 231 Pa. 63, 79 A. 877 (1911) (evidence that street car stopped so suddenly it threw passenger against seat in front of him creates rebuttable presumption of negligence).

. The Port Authority argues that this case should be controlled by the outcome in Hill v. West Penn Rys. Co., 340 Pa. 297, 16 A.2d 527 (1940). The plaintiff in Hill, a passenger on a trolley car, sustained a fractured hip after falling in the trolley because of an allegedly forceful jolt of the trolley. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court’s refusal to remove a compulsoiy nonsuit. However, in Hill the only testimony regarding the nature of the trolley’s jolt was from the plaintiff; in this case Dr. Neuschwander’s testimony supports Asbury’s claim that the bus jolted forward with an extraordinary force that caused Asbuiy’s femur fracture.