Mahfouz v. Interurban Trans. Co.
Mahfouz v. Interurban Trans. Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit brought by the plaintiff against the defendant for damages on account of personal injuries alleged to have been received by him while-traveling as a passenger on a bus owned and operated by the defendant. The bus on which plaintiff -was riding made the-trip daily from Monroe to Alexandria. On
After the passengers had been unloaded and the bus had been gotten off the railroad track and preparations, were made to renew the journey to Alexandria, the driver took a list of the names and addresses of all passengers, about six in number. He says that at the time plaintiff complained for the first time that he had been hurt in the bus by being thrown from his seat when it ran suddenly upon and down the railroad track. Plaintiff says it was known that he was hurt before he left the bus, as some of the passengers had assisted him to get up and out. The journey was resumed, and as soon as Alexandria was reached the plaintiff was taken to a doctor’s. office and received medical attention at the hands of Dr. J. I. Peters, a witness for the defendant, who found him suffering from a contusion of the left shoulder and a contusion of the left side near the hip. This doctor bandaged the arm and shoulder with adhesive tape to keep them still, but
This suit was filed on December 16, 1927. In his petition plaintiff alleges that from the date of the accident to the date of the filing of this suit he had been totally incapacitated for work on account of the injury received. He prays for damages in the sum of $7,043, which he itemizes as follows: $2,000 for loss- of time; $5,000 for mental and physical pain and suffering and physical disfigurement; and $43 for doctor’s fee and drug bills.
Before the trial Jaubert Bros, became the owners, of the suit by purchase at a judicial sale, and by mutual agreement the case was. tried with them as substituted plaintiffs. The judgment of the lower court rejected plaintiff’s demand, and from that judgment this appeal is being prosecuted.
There are two questions of fact to be decided in this case. (1) As to whether plaintiff suffered any appreciable injury; and (2) if he did, was it the result of the negligence of the defendant’s, agent, the driver of the bus? Plaintiff insists in his pleadings and in his testimony that he had been totally incapacitated by the injury he received. On this point no testimony is offered but his own. At the time of the accident he was earning $125 per month, and since then, according to his testimony, he has been unable to earn any amount on account of his physical disability. It would seem that, if the injury were as serious as he contends, he could and would have produced medical testimony to that effect. Up to the time of the injury all his employment had, been along the line of mercantile work, and the disability that is shown to exist in his arm and shoulder would not prevent him from doing that kind of work. But he was injured to some extent. As soon as he was taken to Alexandria he was carried to the office of Dr. Peters, who found two contusions on his. body, one on the left side and one on the left arm and shoulder. The arm and shoulder were injured seriously enough to justify Dr. Peters in bandaging them with tape to prevent any motion in the shoulder joint to give it opportunity to recover from whatever sprain may have been suffered. Dr. Peters testified that he considered the injuries- serious, but thought recovery should be made in a week or ten days. He never saw the plaintiff again professionally. On -the next day plaintiff went to Dr. F. B. Luckett, who made a fairly thorough examination and found the same injuries that Dr. Peters had found. He loosened the bandage put on by Dr. Peters, as plaintiff complained of it being too tight. He found the plaintiff suffering considerably, and it was his opinion that plaintiff would in the ordinary course be disabled for some ten days to a month. A great deal of effort is made by counsel for defendant to discredit plaintiff’s testimony to the effect thal he was injured by being .thrown in the bus in some way. The fact speaks for itself that he was hurt seriously on two parts of the body, and the kind of injury he received could not be received in any manner except as described by him. The fact that
Under his own testimony the driver of the bus was from eighty-five to one hundred feet away when he saw the Ford truck coming upon the twenty-four foot highway with the intention, of crossing. The bus driver testified that the truck was going “pretty fast” until it stalled in the middle of the highway, thus- blocking the passage. When the Ford came thus to a stop, the bus was, according to the testimony of its driver, within six or eight feet of it, and, to avoid running into it, the driver turned suddenly and sharply to the right and never stopped until he was up on the railroad with the two front wheels caught between the tracks. . The distance traveled during this movement was fifty-three feet. The bus driver says that when he first saw the truck coming upon the highway he immediately began to slow down and to get the bus under control, and that, if the truck had not stopped, it would have gotten out of his way in .time for him to pass to the rear of the truck. But, while the driver says the distance from the point where he first saw the truck coming upon the highway, was only eighty-five to one hundred feet, the defendant’s, witness, a civil engineer who made a blueprint of the scene of tlieo accident, testified that this distance was one hundred twenty-five feet. So, if the bus traveled one hundred twenty-five feet while t'he truck was getting halfway across the highway going “pretty fast,” it would have been impossible for the truck to have gotten out of the way in time to. let the bus. pass to its rear, even though it had not stopped. So it would appear that the' driver of the bus did not slow down as much as he thinks he did. The fact that he traveled fifty-three feet climbing a railroad embankment would indicate that he was traveling rather rapidly when he discovered suddenly that the truck had stalled. It is the duty of the driver of any automobile, and particularly of a bus carrying passengers for hire, to keep his machine under such control after the discovery of
Counsel for defendant quote from 10 Corpus Juris, pp. 8S3-867, as follows:
“The driver of an automobile. or motor vehicle carrying passengers is bound to use at least reasonable and ordinary care for the protection of his passengers in driving the machine; and in driving through the streets of a city he is required to anticipate that he may meet persons or vehicles, to keep a proper lookout for them, and to use care to have his machine under such control as. to enable him to avoid collisions.”
This citation alone in connection with the testimony of the defendant’s bus driver is sufficient to convict him of that degree of negligence to render defendant liable for any injury received by any one on account of this accident. The driver says he kept a lookout and says he saw the truck coming upon .the narrow highway at a distance that is shown to be one hundred twenty-five feet. And while he did avoid a collision, he did it in such way as to inflict serious injuries upon plaintiff, one of his passengers. It is true that the sudden stopping of the truck in the middle of the road did create an emergency and possibly the bus driver does deserve credit for having avoided what might have proved to be a greater disaster than the one that did happen. But it was his duty and he- had the opportunity to avoid any disaster. He saw this possible danger one hundred twenty-five feet away, and he ought to have had his bus under such control that he could avert it without hurting any of his passengers. Counsel refers to the codal definitions of force, superior force, and fortuitous event. These definitions are not applicable. The sudden stopping of this .truck does not come under the heading of any one of the definitions. Over and over again it has been held that the driver of one car traveling behind another is not excusable for hitting the car in front if it stops suddenly and unexpectedly. It has been repeatedly held that the car in the rear must be held under such control that it can be stopped before it strikes the car in front. This rule is surely stronger in cases of a car crossing in front, particularly when there is ample time to put the car under control. Counsel for defendant urge that defendant is not an insurer of his passengers, and that, unless negligence is shown, there can be no recovery for injuries received. This is 'correct. The eases cited are not applicable, for we hold that, according to the
Because of plaintiff’s failure to produce corroborative testimony in regard to his disability and suffering at the time of the trial, we are unable to determine the full extent of his injury. But, in view of the proved fact of negligence on the part of defendant’s driver and of the immediate injury and suffering of the plaintiff, we think there should be judgment in his favor for at least $250.
It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the judgment appealed from be, and the same is hereby, avoided, annulled, and set aside, and it is further ordered that there be judgment herein in favor of the substituted plaintiff, Jaubert Brothers, against the defendant, Interurban Transportation Company, for the sum of $250, with 5 per cent interest from December 17, 1927, and all costs in both courts.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.