Smith v. Sneller
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
26 A.2d 452 (1942)
- Written by Eric Miller, JD
Facts
Joseph Smith (plaintiff) was a door-to-door salesman with extremely impaired vision, almost to the point of blindness. Smith did not use a cane or a service dog while working in downtown Philadelphia. One day, Smith fell into a ditch dug across a sidewalk by Peter Sneller and Herman Lomastro (defendants). He failed to see the two-foot pile of dirt at the start of the ditch or the barricade at the other end. Smith sued Sneller and Lomastro for negligence. The trial court held in favor of Smith. Sneller appealed and the Superior Court reversed, holding that Smith’s recovery was barred by contributory negligence because Smith’s own negligence contributed to his injuries. Smith appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Drew, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
