Opinion
December 10, 1951.
Action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by a passenger in a trolley car as the result of the penetration into the trolley car of a metal pipe. Judgment reversed on the law, with costs to appellant, and complaint dismissed on the law, with costs. The proof was insufficient to enable the plaintiff to invoke the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. There was no showing that the pipe which caused the injury was within the exclusive control and possession of the defendant. On the contrary it appears as a fair inference of plaintiff's testimony, and in fact apparently is conceded, that the pipe was not part of the trolley car equipment. ( Paolantonio v. Long Is. R.R. Co., 274 App. Div. 106 3, affd. 300 N.Y. 640; Manley v. New York Tel. Co., 303 N.Y. 18, 25.) The plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case of actionable negligence by direct proof. ( Alexander v. Rochester City Brighton R.R. Co., 128 N.Y. 13; De Martino v. Brooklyn Queens Transit Corp., 258 App. Div. 1072, affd. 285 N.Y. 593.) Nolan, P.J., Carswell, Adel, Sneed and Wenzel, JJ., concur.