Pontecorvo

The plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for the death of his minor daughter, Clelia Pontecorvo, alleged to have been directly caused by the negligence of the defendant. The issues of fact were tried by a jury, and a verdict arrived at and returned in favor of the defendant. Judgment was entered accordingly. A motion for a new trial was made by the plaintiff and denied. This appeal is by the plaintiff from the judgment.

The death of the minor child named in the complaint occurred in Lincoln Park, Los Angeles, on the twentieth day of November, 1924, between the hours of 8 and 9 o’clock P. M. The defendant, John N. Clark, was, on said day, and at the place mentioned, the owner of and operating, for amusement purposes, a mechanical contrivance or device commonly known as a “Scenic Roller Coaster Railway.” This device is what may briefly be described as a tramroad, with toboggan chutes, on and over which a small train of ears is, with considerable velocity, propelled. The train, leaving a level track, ascends rapidly to the apex of what is variously described by the witnesses as “the hill,” “the crown,” and “the hump” (to be referred to hereinafter as the “peak”), which…