Kearns v. Brooklyn Heights Railroad

The judgment must be reversed for the error in refusing to charge a request of the defendant, which fairly presented the proposition that contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff was a bar to his right of recovery. It is apparent from the record that the learned trial justice did not apprehend the request, and that his ruling was the result of inadvertence, as his attention at the time was particularly directed to the running discussion of the doctrine of negligence. The learned counsel for the respondent contends that the error is harmless.

First, it is argued that the question of…