Hall ex rel. Hall v. Missouri & Kansas Telephone Co.
Hall ex rel. Hall v. Missouri & Kansas Telephone Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit for damages for injuries received by plaintiff as tbe alleged result of defendant’s negligence.
Tbe plaintiff at tbe time be received bis injuries was an infant five years of age. Tbe petition sets out that tbe defendant was operating and maintaining a telephone line in Kansas City, running north and south between Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth streets and parallel with Mersington avenue and about midway between tbe latter avenue and Cleveland avenue; that on tbe 29th day of June, 1907, tbe defendant was engaged in stretching a cable wire and lead conduit containing wires across poles along its telephone line, for which purpose they used pulleys and a rope strung along tbe top of its poles, which rope ran down by means of said pulleys along the side of said poles to the ground; that one of the said pulleys was fastened to the pole close to the ground; that the end of the rope passed through this pulley to which a horse was hitched; that this pole was standing on vacant unenclosed ground; that the public have been accustomed to pass over this ground, and that children of the neighborhood were accustomed to play there especially near and around said pole, all of which was well known to defendant company, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence could have been so known to defendant; that on the day aforesaid, plaintiff together with his two brothers and another companion, all minors and of tender years, 'who were playing in the vicinity of said poles, were attracted to them by reason of the horse, rope and pulleys; that the defendant through its agents while engaged in stretching said cable and conduit well knew that plaintiff and his companions were standing around and in close proximity to said pole, pulleys and rope; that defendant’s agents negligently and carelessly, and without any signal or warning to plaintiff or to his companions as to the danger and consequences of coming in contact
When the cause came on for trial defendant oN jected to the introduction of any evidence on the part of plaintiff, for the reason that the petition did not state a cause of action. The court sustained the objection and instructed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant, whereupon plaintiff took a nonsuit with leave to move to set it aside and the jury was discharged. Judgment was entered in favor of defendant which the court refused to set aside and plaintiff appealed.
The argument of plaintiff is that: “It is a well recognized and well settled principle of law that persons who leave unguarded dangerous machines or appliances, which are attractive to children where children are wont to play, are held guilty of such negligence as will create a liability for any injury inflicted on such children as are attracted into playing with such machinery, or appliances.” And it is claimed that the case falls within the rule applied to turntables and other similar cases.
In Kelley v. Parker Washington Co., 107 Mo. App. 490, this court enunciated the rule that: “It is negligence for the owner to leave dangerous machinery on his premises in a condition likely to cause injury; and a contractor for grading a street who leaves a scraper in the street liable to inflict injury on children attracted thereby, is guilty of negligence.” “The act of
Where although, the contrivance was not dangerous to persons of full understanding yet where its construction and movement was likely to excite a small child’s curiosity and allure him to thrust his hand into a dangerous place, it was a question whether defendant should have anticipated such an incident, was one for the jury. [Hillerbrand v. May Mercantile Co., 141 Mo. App. 122.]
It is negligence on the part of a railroad company to omit to secure its turntables so that children cannot revolve them. [Nagle v. Railroad, 75 Mo. l. c. 659.]
In Kelley v. Parker Washington, and O’Hara v. Co., supra, the dangerous instrumentalities were left unguarded and improperly secured in public streets where children had the right and were likely to go, and in that respect different from this case. In Hillerbrand v. May Mercantile Co., the child was injured in a store where he had accompanied his mother who was there on business. The court therefore considered that he was there by invitation. These two cases are clearly distinguished from the turntable and kindred cases.
It may be inferred from the allegation of the petition that defendant was a licensee on the vacant lot at the time it was engaged in constructing its telephone line and that plaintiff and his companions were mere trespassers. In such cases the owner owes no duty to
This case is distinguished from the turntable and kindred cases in the most important particulars. In the first place as has been said it was not a dangerous contrivance left unguarded, calculated to attract the curiosity of children. The cause of action is not predicated upon the theory that it was such, but that the injury was the result of defendant’s negligence in not warning plaintiff that it was going to be put in operation. Such is the sum and substance of the alleged negligence. Such being the case did defendant owe plaintiff any further duty, he being uninvited and a trespasser, than not to injure him wantonly as said in Witte v. Stifel, supra; or not to injure him negligently, in the words used in Smith v. Dold Packing Co., supra? It is not contended that defendant acted wantonly but negligently.
Answering for the sake of the argument, only, that defendant is to be held to the exercise of ordinary care * we~db not see that plaintiff has made out a “case. The I work being carried on in the usual and ordinary man-1 ner ancf with care, the plaintiff is forced to rely solely I upon the ground that notwithstanding such was the f case it became the duty of. defendant to anticipate that some child might possibly catch hold of the rope so as to draw his hand against the pulley through which it was passing and thereby get injured. Had we not had this example before us we could scarcely imagine how any one could have been injured in that manner. And at most it may be characterized as a mishap. It
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.