McMeekin v. Pittsburg Railways Co.
McMeekin v. Pittsburg Railways Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
On December 14, 1908, Lulu M. McMeekin, one of the plaintiffs below, got upon a car of the Pittsburg Railways Company in the city of Allegheny for the purpose of being carried to Keown station, a point beyond the city limits, but was informed that the car did not stop there and that she must get off and wait for another. According to her testimony, as she was attempting to alight from the car it was started and as a result of its starting, she fell into the street and sustained serious bodily injuries. On the appeals from the judgments on the verdict in favor of her and her husband we have five assignments of error. Only one of them relates to the admission of evidence; the other four complain of certain portions of the court’s charge. Under objection, the following question put to the plaintiff was allowed: “In going from the station to your home describe the conditions surrounding the approach to it. Describe the conditions surrounding the approach to your home.” In answer
No complaint is made by the second and third assignments that erroneous instructions were given in those portions of the charge which are quoted in them. The complaint is that the court ought to have instructed the jury more fully on the matters to which their attention was called by those portions. At the conclusion of his charge the learned trial judge said to the jury, “And we leave the case with you, unless there is something we have omitted that counsel desire us to call attention to.” The stenographer’s notes show that after this was said one of the counsel for the defendant stated to the court that there was no omission in the charge. In view of this, complaint cannot now be heard of the court’s omission to give fuller instructions to the jury on the matters to which their attention was called in the portions of the charge quoted in the second and third assignments of error, and they are therefore overruled.
The assignments of error are overruled and the judgments are affirmed.
Reference
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- McMeekin v. Pittsburg Railways Company
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- Syllabus
- Negligence — Street railways — Evidence—Inadequacy of charge — Measure of damages — Husband and wife. 1. In an action for damages for personal injuries, sustained as the result of the alleged negligence of the defendant in suddenly starting a car from which plaintiff was attempting to alight, it is not reversible error for the court to permit the plaintiff, in answer to a question about the conditions surrounding the approach to her home, to testify to her experiences closely following the accident, although this does not bear upon the question of the company’s negligence. 2. Counsel cannot be heard to complain of the inadequacy of an otherwise correct charge, where the court gave them opportunity at the time to call attention to any omissions, and one of the defendant’s counsel stated to the court that there was no omission. 3. It is not for the court to indicate the amount that should be awarded to a husband for injuries to his wife. This is for the jury alone after taking into consideration all of the facts of the case. In determining the amount the jury may consider the loss of the wife’s services, assistance and companionship in managing his household, and any expenditures he had been put to as the result of her injuries.