Patton v. Morrin-Powers Mercantile Co.
Patton v. Morrin-Powers Mercantile Co.
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, a lady, seventy-three years of age, was knocked down and trampled' upon by a horse, driven by an employee of defendant, on one of the public streets of Kansas City. Her injuries were quite serious, and she instituted this suit to recover the sum of $10,000 damages of defendant on account of those injuries, alleged to have been inflicted through the alleged negligence of said employee.
The defendant was engaged in the mercantile business in said city, and said employee was at the time of the injury engaged in delivering goods for the defendant.
At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, the court announced that it would give an instruction in the nature of a demurrer to the evidence, telling the jury that plaintiff was not entitled to a recovery, to which action of the court plaintiff duly objected and excepted; and, thereupon, she took a nonsuit with leave to move to set aside the same. In due time counsel for plaintiff filed a motion to set aside the nonsuit, and asking for a new trial. After due consideration the court, without assigning any reason therefor, sustained said motion; and to the action of the court in so ordering, the defendant properly excepted, and in due time appealed therefrom to this court.
The facts of the case as disclosed by the record are few and practically-undisputed. Plaintiff’s evidence tended to prove that on October 11, 1905, in the afternoon, she, a woman of seventy-three years of age and
While the court assigned no ground for sustaining the demurrer to the evidence, however counsel for defendant in their briefs contend that the court properly sustained the demurrer, or rather indicated that it would do so, for two reasons: First, because the evidence did not make a case for the jury; and, second, because the evidence conclusively showed that plaintiff was guilty of such contributory negligence as should bar a recovery. It, therefore, becomes necessary for us to briefly state the evidence introduced bearing upon those questions.
John Pryor testified that what first attracted his attention was the driver going across the street car
Mattie Stevens testified that the plaintiff got off of a Rosedale car and started north across the Southwest boulevard; that she noticed her very particularly; that plaintiff had “gotten across both tracks and was going straight to the sidewalk” on the north side of the street, and the “horse and wagon ran right into her” and knocked her down; . . . “that after she fell the fellow (driver) grabbed back on the horse like that .(illustrating) and the horse trampled all over her:” that “just about the time the horse hit her, the driver hollered, ‘Get out of the way there;’ that she did not see the driver do anything except pull back on the lines; that the plaintiff’s clothing were all dirt and dust and torn; that the horse’s hoofs had ground holes in her garments, and a piece of her clothing, about that-long (indicating) was torn nearly off and hung by the edge; ” . . . that she could tell when a person had imbibed liquor to excess; that the “driver was more than half intoxicated, too much so to be on a public wagon; that his eye-balls were red and his tongue thick,” and his breath smelt of “bad whiskey;” that she did not see the driver before he crossed the
On cross-examination: “ Q. Did you see her the instant she fell? A. Yes, sir. Q. Which direction was she going then? Like this (indicating), facing north? A. Her face was that way, yes, sir. Q. Did she look towards the east at any time? A. Why, sjie saw the wagon right on her, and just .did that way (indicating with hér hands) and fell. Q. But she didn’t see the wagon until it was right on her? A. I couldn’t say whether she did or not; I wasn’t using her eyes. Q. You were telling about what she was doing; you didn’t see her look towards the east to see if a car or wagon was coming? A. No, sir; I don’t remember anything about that at all.” That plaintiff’s left side struck the pavement; that she first saw the horse and wagon just as it bounced across the Summit street car tracks; that there is a good deal of travel there, but never any rush; no fast traffic along there; that wagons usually slack up a little at transfer points and crossings; that she did not notice the driver particularly before the horse struck the plaintiff. “Q. Now, did you or did you not say you noticed him continuously from the crossing of Summit street until his horse struck her? A. He was right in front of my eyes driving that way. I don’t know that I had my’eyes set right on him. Q. Did you or did you not watch him continuously from the time 'he crossed the Summit street tracks until he struck the plaintiff? A. Yes,
James H. Gilkey testified that he was right where the horse came along, and had his hand on the horse or he would have been caught too. Q'. What effect did it have on you when you put your hand on the horse ?. A. It knocked me down; I fell on my knees, but I jumped up again. The team was coming this way. It Came with force, very fast, and I seen it was going to hit me, and I jumped back and put my hand against the horse and it threw me down on my knees and I jumped up. And when I jumped up the old lady was lying down and the horse standing on her with one foot. Q. Now, you say this horse was coming fast; can you give the jury any idea of about how fast it was coming? A. It was coming pretty fast, for the man that was on the wagon was holding his whip up and that made the horse run faster, and it ran on her, and would have run on me, but I put my hand against the horse and fell down on my knees. And I ran and tried
Plaintiff testified that she was not acquainted with Mrs. Mattie Stevens, the witness who saw her struck by the horse and wagon, before she was hurt. “Q. (By Mr. Bird): You remember sending it (a transfer) to me at my house ? A. Yes, sir; I had it in my pocketbook ever since. But I can’t tell you any more after I got out and went around the street ear; then I can’t
On cross-examination: “Q. (By Mr. Taylor) : Isn’t it a dangerous thing for almost anyone to come down town with these crowded streets and street cars ¶ A. I wouldn’t say that, for.I did.” That she was thrown on the side of her face; that she thought she was across the car tracks in the Southwest boulevard, but she could not tell; she thought she had gotten pretty nearly to the- sidewalk, but she did not know where she was struck; that she got across the tracks; that she did not see the horse or the man (Gilkey.) “Q. Do you know whether you stopped on the north track to look for a car coming from the east? A. I always stand there when I get off the car. I always look before I start across the track. Q. And you think you looked at that time? A. Yes, sií. Q. And you stopped- while you were looking, did you? A. I don’t think I stopped. I could see without stopping. Q. Why was it when you were looking for the car you did not see this horse and wagon coming? A. I don’t know. lie- must have come like a whirlwind:. Q. Your hearing is go'od, Mrs. Patton? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you could have heard him if he was coming like a whirlwind? A. Yes, sir; I could. Q. Did you notice whether there were any wagons on
In regard to the distance in which the driver ought to have stopped the horse and wagon, John Pryor, who had been a teamster for eight years, and who claimed to be an expert driver, testified that the horse was going at a pretty good gait, and by that he meant the driver was driving the horse at a pretty fast trot, and that he was going that same gait just before he hit the plaintiff; that there is a water grade on the Southwest boulevard at that point, sloping to the west, but the grade there was not very much of a- one. And the witness, after being qualified, was asked and answered the following questions: Q. Now, taking that grade', and assuming that the load in the wagon was "over two thousand pounds, and that the horse weighed no more than eleven hundred and twenty pounds, would it,be possible to stop with that load in that wagon when going at such a rate of speed as you say he went across Summit street, and stop in within two feet? A. Yes, sir; with a one-horse wagon that way. Q. How would he do it? A. Throw on your brake and pull down on your lines. Q. Now, Mr. Pryor, when a man could do that, it would be some evidence that he had his horse under pretty good control, wouldn’t it? A. Yes, sir; certainly. Q. The fact that he could stop after kno eking a person down, and stop his horse right over him, would be evidence that he had complete control of his horse, would it not? A. He would have control enough to stop him. Q. He could do that if his horse was running away? A. No, sir. Q. You could not do that if the horse was going four or six miles an hour? A.
I. The foregoing statement is a brief resume of the evidence introduced at the trial of this cause as disclosed by the record; and upon that showing counsel for appellant insist that it did not make out a prima facie case"for the jury; that for that reason the trial court properly announced that it would sustain a demurrer to the evidence.
In the consideration of the demurrer to the evidence, it should not be forgotten that the function of a demurrer “is to admit as true all the facts which the evidence tends to prove, as well as all reasonable deductions which may be naturally drawn therefrom. ’ ’ [Meily v. Railroad, 215 Mo. l. c. 584; Kinlen v. Railroad, 216 Mo. l. c. 155.]
The evidence tended to show that the respondent alighted from the street car on Southwest boulevard about seventy-five feet west of Summit street, and, after looking for approaching vehicles, started northwest across the boulevard to the north side thereof for the purpose of taking passage on the Summit street car line; that when she had reached a point a few feet north of the north track of the boulevard line, appellant’s servant, in charge of his horse and wagon, in a half intoxicated condition, with whip raised up in the air, came driving down the boulevard, as some of the witnesses said, in a “brisk trot,” while others said in a “fast run,” and ran his horse against respondent, knocked her down and inflicted the injuries of which she complains. The evidence also tended to show that when he was within a few feet of her, without attempting to stop the horse-, he holloed at hér, “Get out of the way there;” and that not until the horse was right upon her did the driver make any attempt to stop or slacken the speed of the- horse. In addition, the evidence tended to show that the street on which she was injured was one of the principal thoroughfares of Kan
íf we apply the rule previously announced to the evidence in this case, then there can be no doubt but what respondent made out a prima facie case for the jury; and that the court erred in compelling her to take a nonsuit, and for that reason the court very properly set aside the nonsuit and granted her a new trial.
II. The nest and final insistence made by counsel for appellant is, that the evidence shows respondent was guilty of such contributory negligence as should preclude a recovery in this case; and that the trial court for that reason properly compelled her to take a nonsuit..
We are unable to lend our assent to that insistence. The evidence show's that she alighted from the car, looked for approaching vehicles, and started across to the north side of the street, and while so proceeding she was run over and injured. While there is some evidence from which it might be inferred that she was not constantly looking out for vehicles while walking across the street, however, under the law of this State, that is not absolutely necessary. If she looked when she started across the street and saw no approaching danger, then the court should not have declared as a matter of law that she was guilty of such negligence as would preclude a recovery, simply because she did not constantly keep up a vigilant watch.
The case of Thompson v. Livery Co., 214 Mo. 487, was not as strong a case as the one at bar, yet in that case this court held that the evidence made a case for the jury. There the plaintiff not only looked for ap
All the law required of her was that she exercise ordinary care under the circumstances; and what was ordinary care was a question of fact for the jury. [Thompson v. Livery Co., supra, l. c. 497, 498; Kinlen v. Railway Co., supra.] In discussing this question in the latter case, this court, at page 155, said: “The streets of our cities are public thoroughfares upon which all have the right to travel, but neither the pedestrian, the street car, nor the carriage drawn by horses, has the exclusive right to the use thereof. Their rights and duties are relative, and all must exercise reasonable care in order not to- injure each other. While a motorman in charge of a car is not necessarily required to stop his car every time a man, horse or vehicle crosses in front of him, yet in populous cities where the streets are crowded with people, ordinary care requires him to keep a vigilant watch for those who, for any cause, are exposed to the. danger of being
After a careful consideration of the evidence, we are clearly of the opinion that the court erred in compelling the respondent to take a-nonsuit, and that it properly set it aside and granted her a new trial.
For the reason before stated, we are of the opinion that the judgment should be affirmed; and it is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HELEN M. PATTON v. MORRIN-POWERS MERCANTILE COMPANY
- Status
- Published