Court Opinion

ID: 9735866
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:33:38.934495+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:43:38.802066
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Musjianno :
Wesley Staszek, 12% years of age, was walking along Whitaker Way, a road in Munhall, Allegheny County, when he was struck by an automobile being operated by the defendant Forde E. Seibel. Through his father and natural guardian he brought an action in trespass against Seibel and at the ensuing trial the jury returned a verdict for the defendant. Through his counsel, he noAv asks for a neAv trial alleging that the trial judge failed to instruct the jury on the law regarding contributory negligence as it applies to children. I believe the plaintiff’s position is well taken.
*498It is elementary law in tort litigation that minors are not held to the same degree of care as that required of adults. In Parker v. St. Railways Co., 207 Pa. 438, 441, this Court said: “The measure of a child’s responsibility for contributory negligence is his capacity to understand and avoid danger. . . The standard of responsibility is the average capacity of others of the same age and experience, and to this standard a child should be held in the absence of evidence on the subject.”
In the case of Dynes v. Bromley, 208 Pa. 633, the minor plaintiff was 13 years of age. This Court said: “The measure of the boy’s responsibility for contributory negligence is his capacity to understand and avoid danger. The standard of responsibility to which, in the absence of evidence on the subject, he will be held is the average capacity of others of the same age.”
The trial court charged on none of this. On the basis of instructions from the court, the jury could well have believed that a 12% year-old boy was held to the same degree of responsibility as a grown person. Of course, that is not the law.
The Majority Opinion of this Court, in affirming the refusal of a new trial, says: “The plaintiff appeared and testified, and his age was known to the jury.” But that is not the point in the case. Certainly the jury could and did see the boy Wesley but no one told them that at 12% years of age, Wesley was not to be held to the same responsibility as a person 22%, or 17, or even 14.
The trial court charged the jury: “Now, we speak of contributory negligence. The same definition applies to that, but it means any negligence on the part of the plaintiffs in the action which contributed to the happening of the accident through that plaintiff’s negligence or lack of due care on his part. And the law of *499Pennsylvania is if there is contributory negligence then there can be no recovery, no matter how slight that contribution might be.”
This is strong language. It says “any negligence” on the part of the plaintiff, this young boy; it says that “no matter how slight” the boy’s negligence might be, he may not recover. But a “slight negligence” as here indicated could well absolve a 12%-year-old boy from contributory negligence even though it could prevent a 22%-year-old man from recovering.
The trial judge also said: “If a person suddenly darts out from a highway, except as to children, the law is if you see children playing on a sidewalk at any particular point, then a driver of a motor vehicle or automobile has to observe a degree of care taking into account the fact that children are likely to step out or dart out heedlessly into their path.”
In quoting this language the Majority Opinion adds a word. It says: “If a person suddenly darts out from a highway, except as to [especially?] children, etc.” But the jury did not have the benefit of this Court’s retroactive intuition and addition. But even if it had, the amended charge would still not tell the jury about the degree of care expected of 12%-year-old children.
After quoting the language above indicated, the Majority Opinion says “We think that this adequately suggests the basic difference between the conduct of a child and that of an adult.” I don’t think it does. As a matter of fact, I don’t think that the language suggests anything which is at all useful to the case because it speaks of “children playing on a sidewalk.” There is no evidence, and it was not alleged by anyone that Wesley was “playing on a sidewalk.” Wesley was walking along a road.
The failure of the court to charge on the subject of contributory negligence as it applies to children was *500a basic and fundamental error in this case and even though plaintiff’s counsel took no exception to the charge, the plaintiff is still entitled to a new trial. In White v. Moore, 288 Pa. 411, 417, we said: “Just what errors are to be considered basic or fundamental must necessarily depend upon the facts of each case.”
Since the facts in the case at bar had to do with a 12%-year-old child, I cannot conceive of anything being more fundamental and basic than charging on the degree of care to be exercised by a 12%-year-old child.
The Majority Opinion supports its refusal of new trial with the statement: “If, under the guise of fundamental error, we grant new process because a better formula could conceivably be found for legal conceptions, there would be no end to litigation.”
This is not “guise of fundamental error.” It is actual fundamental error. I would grant a new trial and not worry about there being “no end to litigation.” Litigation should end when justice has been achieved and not when a boy is abandoned as he walks along the road to a hoped-for fair trial.