Sullivan v. LaFrade
Sullivan v. LaFrade
Opinion of the Court
There was a nonsuit in the court below and the plaintiff appeals. The action was one to recover damages through a fall alleged to have been due to the negligence of the defendants in closing the door of a bus that he was about to enter and, as alleged in the complaint, propelling the bus “in a forward movement in a jerky, sudden, violent manner while the plaintiff was attempting to board it.”
There was no proof that the bus was started forward in a “jerky, sudden and violent manner.” It could be inferred from the testimony, however, that plaintiff was one of three men waiting for the bus at a street corner; that the bus stopped, the door opened and the other two men entered. While plaintiff’s testimony was somewhat confused as to his own actions and the subsequent movement of the bus, it was open to the jury to find from this and the testimony of another witness that the bus with the door still open, started
The judgment is reversed, to the end that a new trial may be had.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.