Court Opinion

ID: 9701705
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:32:35.95632+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:27.559540
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Bell:
It is doubtful whether Swartz or Sloan was guilty of negligence; if either or both were, it is obvious that Jeloszewski, in spite of all his fine spun theories, must have been guilty of contributory negligence. In any event it is clear that Jeloszewski utterly and completely failed to prove that the negligence of Swartz, if any existed, was the proximate cause of Jeloszewski’s accident.
*368Plaintiff must prove by a fair preponderance of the evidence that each defendant was negligent, and that his negligence was the proximate cause of the accident: Thompson v. Gorman, 366 Pa. 242, 77 A. 2d 413. In my judgment, he failed to sustain his burden of proof. However, at best for Jeloszewsld, and giving him what he is not entitled to, viz., the benefit of any doubts on the question of defendants’ negligence and his contributory negligence — this would merely serve to take the case to the jury; and the jury found a verdict in favor of both defendants.
This was just an unavoidable accident and the jury so found. What is the use of having jury trials if, on simple issues of fact such as these, their verdict can be set aside without the slightest legal justification? Plaintiff’s case, at best for him, was based upon flimsy evidence and imaginative theories and gave to jury and Court alike nothing but a guess as to whether Sloan was guilty of negligence and plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence.
I cannot understand how a Court can justifiably say that the verdict was unjust, or was contrary to the weight of the evidence. The grant of a new trial should be reversed because it was a clear abuse of discretion. Cf. Decker v. Kulessa, 369 Pa. 259, 264, 85 A. 2d 413.