Ligonier Valley Rail Road Newspaper Articles
We have compiled over 1,400 newspaper articles that mention the Ligonier Valley Railroad, or related subjects. The articles were originally published starting in 1873 and our collection runs through 1995. Enjoy!
Latrobe Bulletin
Tuesday, January 9, 1917
Supreme Court Directs Reversal in the Case of Kuhn vs. L.V.R.R.
The Supreme Court, yesterday, sitting in Philadelphia, handed down an opinion, reversing the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas in the case of former Conductor Charles Kuhn vs. the Ligonier Valley Railroad, and directing venire facias de novo, which means a re-trial of the case.
Following the Wilpen wreck, in July, 1912, Mr. Kuhn, who sustained serious injuries in the disaster, entered suit against the company for $25,000 damages.
The case was tried before Judge McConnell, in February of last year. Several days were consumed with the taking of testimony, and the case was given to the jury on the afternoon of February 23rd.
Within about two hours, the jury reached a verdict, and when it was opened in court, the next morning, it was found that Mr. Kuhn had been awarded damages in the sum of $10,000.
Judge McConnell refused a new trial of the case, and the counsel for the railroad took an appeal to the Supreme Court, basing it on the contention that the evidence of several railroad men, called by the plaintiff in an effort to prove that in the conduct of railroads written orders were preferable to verbal orders, had been inadmissible in the manner given.
The opinion of the Supreme Court has not reached Greensburg, as yet, but it is assumed that in directing a reversal the court upheld this contention, and held that the testimony should not have been admitted.
The amount of the verdict, it is said, was not at issue.