Court Opinion

ID: 9755554
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:42:47.794686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:09.100846
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mb. Justice Bell:
The only pertinent negligence pleaded is that the defendant “failed to furnish adequate and sufficient light for the use of plaintiff”. Plaintiff was walking along an aisleway with open boxes and a rail on his left which he testified admitted “ample” light for him to see. Most of the confusion in this case arises from the testimony that in the areaway at the bottom of the steps there was a solid press wall and this wall darkened or shut out the light in this areaway. This is irrelevant since plaintiff failed to prove that it caused his fall or affected the light in the aisleway.
It is not negligence per se to have one floor at a lower level than another floor or to have steps leading from one floor to another: Haddon v. Snellenburg, 293 Pa. 333, 143 A. 8; Strawhacker v. Whitman, 147 Pa. Superior Ct. 33, 23 A. 2d 349. The crucial question is: Did plaintiff prove that the aisleway on which he was walking was not sufficiently lighted to enable him to see the commencement of the steps down which he fell?
Plaintiff testified as follows: “Q. So you were really going on down looking for chairs until something hap-happened; is that correct? A. Well, that’s possibly correct. . . . Q. And your attention was mainly directed, then, to what might be in the boxes in the way of chairs; isn’t that correct? A. Yes, sir. Q. And as you were doing that you were walking along and, as I assume, you probably had your head turned to the boxes; is that correct? A. That wouldn’t be permanently. Q, No, but I mean generally as you walked down *168there. A. Well, as you would walk along the railing looking for your chairs, you would try and watch where you were going subconsciously and at the same time be looking in the boxes. Q. As you were going down looking for your chairs and subconsciously, as you say, trying to look as-to where you were going, you tell us that you hád ample illumination on the aisle-way to see the aisie itself? A. Yes.* Q. You could see the floor of the aisle and you could see whether or not any of your chairs might have been stacked out there or were out there? A. There were no .chairs out there. Q. Well, you know that because you had plenty of light to see it, didn’t you? A. We could see there in the aisleway. (67a). . . . Q. But, in other words, you could see the floor in front of you as you walked up to the point where you fell; is that correct? I am not talking about steps; the aisleway you were walking on. A. If I were walking along there looking-straight down at the floor, I would naturally see the floor, but walking along as I was it looked like a continuation. Q. All right. In any event, from where you got on, up at the Neville Street end, to the point where you fell, apparently you had ample illumination to see the aisleway that you walked along? A. I didn’t see any hole there at all. I just continued walking. Q. In other words, you didn’t see a shadow or a dark spot that was different from the rest of it at any time before you fell, did you? A. The floor all looked the same. Q. Now, had you been looking right down where you were putting your feet just before you fell, you could have seen the aisleway;' is that correct? A. I should have. Q. And you would have seen if there toas a part in the aisleway that was dark, as you'say} too dark to see anything; you would also have observed *169that, would you not? A. Again, I should see it.”** (p. 87a-88a) . . .
Where conflicts in testimony exist, it is ordinarily for the jury to reconcile such conflicts, but the law is equally well settled that where the burden of proof is upon the plaintiff to establish negligence or any other facts before a recovery can be had, and his testimony on the question is so uncertain or inadequate or contradictory or ambiguous as to present to the jury no basis for a finding except a mere conjecture, he cannot recover: Musleva v. Patton Clay M. Co., 338 Pa. 249, 12 A. 2d 554; Natvig v. P. R. T. Co., 293 Pa. 355, 143 A. 18; Lithgow v. Lithgow, 334 Pa. 262, 5 A. 2d 573; Goater v. Klotz, 279 Pa. 392, 124 A. 83.
I would grant judgment non obstante veredicto because plaintiff’s testimony was inadequate and insufficient to prove negligence, and his admissions convicted him of contributory negligence.
If judgment n.o.v. is not granted, I would grant a new trial for the following reason. Plaintiff’s employer paid him his regular salary throughout his five months’ convalescence, during which time plaintiff performed substantial services for his employer. Plaintiff considered these payments were a gift and the jury was permitted to so find. The testimony on this point was as follows: “Mr. Evans: Q. As I understand, then, Mr. Stevenson, you did no work for profit or wages from the time you were hurt until you went back in July of 1949? A. That’s correct. The Court: Q. Is that your answer, that you weren’t paid for this period of time that you were off? Mr. Burns: He didn’t say that. The Court: That’s what I wanted to find out. If he *170got paid then there is no damage for that period of time. If he got his $300 a month, then there is no loss. Mr. Burns: He didn’t ask him that . . . Q. Between those dates did you receive any benefit or gift from your sister-in-law, Mrs. Holman? A. Mrs. Holman, because she was my sister-in-law, perhaps out of the goodness of her heart, did give me the equivalent of what I would have earned had I been working. Mr. Evans: I see. Cross examine. . . . Mr. Burns: Q. You mean,, by that that you received from Mrs. Holman, that is, the owner of the business that you were working for, $300 a month; is that what you mean? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you consider that a gift because you say you did nothing to earn it; is that it? A. I certainly, by the standards of working, was not entitled to it. Q. Did you solicit business, however, during that time? A. There were a few occasions when I had Mr. Cochran drive me, call for me and take me out. Those were few occasions. Q. Did you solicit business on the telephone during that time? A. I took care of anything that came into my home or which was referred to me by phone. Q. Did you look after the supervision of the work in any way during that time? A. Well, if there were any questions or problems which came up, Mr. Heron would come to me with such problems and ask my judgment of what to do about them.” (175a-177a).
As this Court said in Pensak v. Peerless Oil Co., 311 Pa. 207, 210, 166 A. 792: “Characterizing as a gift the money paid to him does not make it so. To permit a recovery of money under the guise of wages lost would, [under these facts], open a wide door to misrepresentation and fraud in this class of cases.”

 Italics ours.

 While no additional evidence is necessary, defendant’s picture (Exhibit B), which the plaintiff did not deny was a true representation of the light at the scene at the time he fell, clearly shows ample light.