Cornelius v. City of Appleton
Wisconsin Supreme Court
APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Outagamie County. Action under the statute for causing the death of the plaintiff’s intestate by suffering a bridge which was out of repair to be left open at night, without a watchman, proper guards, or a light to warn of danger, in consequence of which the intestate, without negligence on his part, fell through and was drowned. The facts proved are sufficiently stated in the opinion.
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APPEAL from the Circuit Court for Outagamie County. Action under the statute for causing the death of the plaintiff’s intestate by suffering a bridge which was out of repair to be left open at night, without a watchman, proper guards, or a light to warn of danger, in consequence of which the intestate, without negligence on his part, fell through and was drowned. The facts proved are sufficiently stated in the opinion. After the plaintiff’s case was closed, a motion for nonsuit was overruled. The circuit judge left it to the jury to say whether the plank placed across the end of tie bridge…
1Opinion of the CourtCole, J.
We think the motion for a nonsuit should have been granted, for the reason that the evidence on the part of the plaintiff not only disproved the allegation of negligence on the part of the city in respect to placing proper guards on the bridge to warn the traveling public of its dangerous condition, put did prove negligence on the part of the deceased. It appears that the bridge was broken on the morning of the day the deceased was drowned, so that the draw could not be closed. Nor could the injury be at once repaired. The south half of the draw was necessarily left open; and, about eighteen…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Wadhams Oil Co. v. StateWisconsin Supreme Court · 1933
- Smith v. Union Railway Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1876
- Armel v. LendrumSupreme Court of Iowa · 1877