Van Vrankin v. Kansas City Elevated Railway Co.
Van Vrankin v. Kansas City Elevated Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The appellee alleged that on January 24, 1909, in attempting to alight from one of appellant’s cars, she. was injured by being thrown-therefrom, in
The case was tried by the appellant on the theory that the appellee was not injured in alighting from the car, but, if at all, by falling, some distance from the place of alighting. But there was sufficient evidence to show that the appellee’s theory was correct, and the jury were amply justified in so finding. While the answer was only a general denial, the appellant claims that even on the testimony in behalf of the appellee she contributed to the injury by her own negligence, or at least that such evidence left the matter in such condition that the jury should have considered it, and that instruction No. 7 practically precluded such consideration. This instruction was that if, when the plaintiff "reached a point near her destination, she signalled to the conductor to stop such car at Eleventh street, where she desired to alight, and that the conductor gave the usual signal to the motorman to stop said car, and thereupon the speed of said car was reduced, and when near said Eleventh street, and before said car had come to a full stop, the gates of said car were opened by the said motorman, and the plaintiff proceeded to the rear platform, and stepped one foot upon the step of said car for the purpose of alighting therefrom, and that at the time the plaintiff had arrived at the step of said car the motorman in charge thereof brought such car to a sudden and violent stop, thereby causing the plaintiff to be thrown with great force and violence to the street, causing the injuries complained of, then the defendant will be liable and your verdict must be for the plaintiff.”
Counsel for the appellant argue that this disposes of the question of contributory negligence adversely to the railway company, for the reason that it tells the
“The defendant denied that the plaintiff received any injury whilst on or in getting off the car, or in -consequence of any movement of the car, and contended that she fell upon the street after she had safely alighted and had taken two or three steps from the ■car.”
And in the reply brief:
“The defendant relied from first to last for its defense upon the proposition that it was guiltless of the act charged against it, namely, the-sudden stopping of the car with a violent jerk which threw the plaintiff to the street.”
That the verdict was large is beyond dispute. That it was so excessive as to show passion and' prejudice the appellant does not claim, and we are referred to no authorities for so holding. It is hard to measure the injury, and still harder to estimate it in dollars and cents, and in the absence of any showing of misconduct indicating passion or prejudice we must leave the matter as determined by the jury, who saw the appellee
Complaint is made concerning the tenth instruction, for its alleged assumption of the theory of the petition, instead of the amended petition, and for its alleged enumeration of particulars declared to be negligent as a matter of law. The original petition charged that the car came to a full stop at Eleventh street, but was-running so rapidly that it went a few feet- past the usual stopping place; that when the car stopped the gates were opened and the appellee started to alight,, and while upon the second step, in the act of alighting, the car suddenly started forward, thus causing the-injury; that the appellant’s employees knew or should have known that the appellee was not given sufficient time to alight, and that they recklessly started the car suddenly, with great' force. The amended petition alleged that as it approached Eleventh street the car slowed down and the appellee, went to the- rear platform to alight; that the gates were improperly opened,, and as the plaintiff had her foot on the first step, preparing to alight, the motorman negligently brought the car to a sudden stop, thereby injuring the appellee; that the appellant’s employees knew. the night was dark and that the gates should not be opened before a full stop, and that they knew or should have known that the appellee had one foot upon the upper step, preparatory to alighting, when they brought the car to a sudden stop. In the tenth instruction the jury were told that it was the appellant’s duty under the circumstances “to stop such car for the purpose of allowing the plaintiff to alight therefrom, and not to open the gates thereon until such car had been brought to a full stop, and to keep it still for a sufficient time for the
It was shown by the testimony of former motormen on similar cars that it was not only the duty but the rule of the railway company to come to a full stop before opening the gates, and certainly it must be its duty, if the gates have been opened, to see that no sudden or violent jerk be given so as to endanger a passenger in the act of alighting. While the reference to a sudden starting forward was unnecessary and improper in view of the amended petition, still it was rendered harmless by the further expression that if the employees failed in. any of their duties, and the plaintiff was thereby injured, the company would be liable.
Miss Gladys Lichty testified:
“Ans. When we left Tenth street Miss Van Vrankin raised her hand to the conductor for him to give the signal for the car to stop at Eleventh, and he gave it, and she got up and walked in the back of the car, and the gates were opened before the car stopped, and the car began to slow down when we were almost to Eleventh street; and when the car was- almost to a stop, why, it gave a violent jerk.
*295 “A. Well, I don’t know, except that it just gave a violent jerk; it made for the people inside of the car hard to sit on their seats.”
Miss Fay Lichty testified that the gates were opened before the car came to a stop.' She further said: “It seemed to me as though the car had come to a stop, when they gave a violent jerk, and, of course, it threw her, and it seemed as though it threw almost every one in the car out of their seats,” and that the car did not stop, start up again and make a second stop.
The appellee testified:
“The car was then slowing down, and as I stepped out on the platform — it was n’t a second — the car gave a sudden jerk, like that, and I threw out my arm to catch myself, but I was too slow, and I was on the ground and the conductor picked me up and began to ask me if I was badly injured and what my name was.”
We do not think, therefore, that instruction No. 10 was materially misleading or prejudicial to the appellant.
The day after the injury an agent of the appellant procured a statement of the affair from the appellee, who directed a friend to sign it for her, as her right shoulder had just been “thrown into place” and her right arm was “all bandaged up” and she was nearly wild with her “arm being put in place.” After she left the hospital she talked to her attorney. In this statement to the agent the injury is said to have occurred after the car had stopped and she had started to get off; that before she reached the lower step the car suddenly started forward and threw her off. It is seriously insisted that the change of front shown by the amended petition was not in good faith and was not made until certain depositions had been taken which admonished the appellee that in order to recover she must allege that a sudden stop, and not a sudden start, threw her from the car. However the injury in fact occurred, it was at night, and made the appellee so sick, as she tes
“Sometimes a brake shoe will hang close to a wheel if the brake is not adjusted right, the shoe fits the edges of the wheel just right, it will jar and jerk when you stop the car; if the shoe is connected up like they should be you can stop the car easy without any jarring or jerk.”
Mr. Quisberry, who had served for four years as conductor and four years as motorman for the appellant’s road, and was acquainted with the “700” cars, such as the one under consideration, testified:
“Ques. Is there a jerking of the car sometimes when it is brought to a stop? [Objected to by defendant as incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial. Objection overruled; defendant excepts.] Ans. Sometimes they will unless you release the brake.
“Q. What caused that jerking, tell the jury? A. Well, it is the tightening of the brakes and- the releasing of the brakes when it comes to a stop; you should release the brake just about the time it comes to a stop to stop that jerking; if you do not, if your brake is set when the car stops, and you don’t release them, then comes a jerk, you see.”
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Cora Van Vrankin v. The Kansas City Elevated Railway Company
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Personal Injuries — Damages—Amount of Award — Quotient Verdict. In an action by a woman twenty-three years of age for damages caused by being violently thrown from a street car, the testimony showing that as a result of the injury she was taken to a hospital, where she remained three weeks and where an operation was performed removing one ovary and resecting the other, and that she was rendered weak and nervous and unable to follow her former occupation and earn her former wages, a verdict for $10,933, while large, is not so excessive as to show passion and prejudice, nor does it show upon its face that it was the result of addition and division. 2. - Contributory Negligence — Instructions—Applicability to the Issues. Where the plaintiff sues upon the allegation and theory that she was violently thrown from a street car by a sudden jerk before it had come to a full stop, the street-railway company not having pleaded contributory negligence, and asserting and trying the case upon the theory that the plaintiff’s injury occurred by a fall after she had safely left the car, held, that the failure of the court in its instructions to direct the attention of the jury to the plaintiff’s contributory negligence in attempting to alight while the car was in motion does not constitute reversible error. 3. . — - Instructions — Enlargement of the Issues• — Immaterial Error. The day following the injury, while the plaintiff was suffering therefrom, an agent of the railway company procured from her a statement which she could not sign by reason of her injury, but which she directed a friend to sign, such statement being to the effect that the car suddenly started after it had come to a stop. After leaving the hospital she filed her original petition, containing a similar allegation. Some weeks thereafter, a deposition of the motorman having been taken, she filed an amended petition alleging that the injury occurred by reason of a sudden jerk while the car was being brought to a stop. In one of the instructions the attention of the jury was called to the duty of the railway company in respect to a sudden start after a full stop, and also to its duty in respect to bringing the car to a stop and keeping its gates open in the meantime. Held, that in view of the answer, and the theory on which the case was tried by the street-railway company, such reference to the sudden starting of the car does not constitute reversible error. 4. -Injury to Passenger Alighting from a Street Car— Negligence — Evidence and Verdict. Where the plaintiff and two witnesses testify substantially that the injury was caused by a sudden jerk before the car had been brought to a full stop, and former motormen experienced in the operation of the same kind of a car testify that such jerk might occur, and would occur unless the car was properly equipped and operated, held, that the liability of the street-car company is sufficiently shown to uphold the verdict.