Conn v. Stumm
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Common Pleas of Fayette county. Appeal from a justice of the peace. The declaration charged that the plaintiff “ retained and employed” the defendant to iron his wagon, and the defendant “ undertook and promised to do it with care and skill;” and the breach assigned was, that “not regarding his promise and undertaking,” he did not do it with proper care and skill. The plea was non assumpsit.
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Error to the Common Pleas of Fayette county. Appeal from a justice of the peace. The declaration charged that the plaintiff “ retained and employed” the defendant to iron his wagon, and the defendant “ undertook and promised to do it with care and skill;” and the breach assigned was, that “not regarding his promise and undertaking,” he did not do it with proper care and skill. The plea was non assumpsit. On the trial the plaintiff had a verdict for $10 ; and afterwards the court dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction in the justice of the peace, and this is the matter complained of.
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered in by
Lowrie, J.
The decision below is founded on a misunderstanding of the case of Zell v. Arnold, 2 Pa. R. 292; a case which has twice before been misunderstood: 7 Watts 170 ; 12 State R. 381. All that is decided there is, that a justice of the peace has no jurisdiction of an action of tort for such negligence where the claim is over $100. No one doubts that assumpsit will lie in such a case; for the law implies a contract for care and skill, not as a fiction, but as a fact, from the “ understanding,” 13 S. & R. 44, or “ course of dealing between the…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Hunt v. WynnSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1837
- Koppenhaffer v. IsaacsSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1838
- Montgomery v. PoormanSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1837
3Cited by4 opinions
- Stanton v. Philadelphia & Reading Railway Co.Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1912
- Murphy v. ThallSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1901
- Green v. PattersonSuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1897
- Watson v. South Penn Telephone Co., Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Greene County1928