Court Opinion

ID: 9706981
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:57:27.738528+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:26.613467
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice O’Brien :
The majority opinion is directly in conflict with the case law as stated by this court. In Bosack v. Pgh. Railways Company, 410 Pa. 558 189 A. 2d 877 (1963), an irregularity existed in a street which the railway company, by virtue of its tracks, had the duty to maintain. Several cobblestones, located some five to eight feet from the ordinary pedestrian crossing, had sunk an inch or two below the level of the track. In re*400versing a verdict for the plaintiff, we held that, as a matter of law, the defect was so minor as not to he actionable. We there said: “Time and again our courts have held that an elevation, a depression, or an irregularity on a street or highway may be so trivial that courts, as a matter of law, are bound to hold that there was no negligence in permitting such depression or irregularity to exist . . .” It is true that no precise standards of triviality can be set up: “Bosack does not hold . . . that triviality is determined by the precise measurements of the irregularity in question. The thrust of that case is simply one of economic and physical practicality balanced against the need to protect against property damage and personal injury. Owners of large areas of land, such as railroads and municipalities, cannot reasonably be forced to police each and every square foot for minor depressions and protrusions.” Massman v. Phila., 44 Pa. D. & C. 2d 636 (1967), affirmed per curiam on the opinion of the court below, 430 Pa. 99, 241 A. 2d 921 (1968). Comparing the instant situation with Bosack, it would appear that a one and one-half inch depression in the middle of the block would be so trivial as to prevent a finding of negligence as a matter of law. The trial judge recognized this, for he charged the jury that if they found the hole to be only an inch and a half deep, they must find for the City.
However, the trial judge felt, and the majority now holds, that the depth of the hole was a question for the jury. Although plaintiff testified that the hole was four or five inches deep, she introduced two photographs, with rulers inserted in different parts of the hole, revealing that the depth was at most an inch and a half. In Wright v. Pgh. Railways Co., 320 Pa. 40, 181 A. 476 (1935), the plaintiff’s witness testified that the depression was from one and a half to two or three inches. This court affirmed the grant of judgment *401n.o.y. after a verdict for the plaintiff, holding that accurate measurements taken by the railroad’s civil engineer, showing the depressions to be less than a quarter of an inch, must prevail over the estimates of the plaintiff, who had ample opportunity to take accurate measurements. If defendant’s measurements in Wright prevailed, then surely the situation where the plaintiff herself introduces the measurements is an a fortiori case.
I would reverse the judgment of the court below and enter a judgment n.o.v.