Cunningham v. Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad
Cunningham v. Columbia, Newberry & Laurens Railroad
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
This action was for actual and punitive damages brought by the plaintiff against the defendant for $10,000, for alleged personal injuries to the plaintiff’s foot, incurred at Fleming street crossing, in the city of Laurens. Plaintiff alleged that his injury was due to the careless, negligent, wrongful, wilful, and unlawful acts of the defendant in not causing its train to come h> a full stop at Fleming street crossing, so that plaintiff could alight from the train, after he had been told by the defendant’s conductor that the train would stop at said Fleming street crossing, and that it would be all right for the plaintiff to alight therefrom at that point. The defendant answered said complaint, and denied the material allegations of the same, and set up' as a further defense the plea of contributory negligence. The cause was heard before his Honor, Judge DeVore, and a jury, at the July term of the Court, 1913, for Laurens county. When the evidence was all in the defendant moved to direct a verdict for the defendant, which motion was refused, and the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff for five hundred dollars, actual damages. After entry of judgment defendant appeals, and, by its exceptions, raise three questions for the consideration of the Court.
Standing on the steps, as plaintiff was at the time of the injury, under all the facts and circumstances proven in the case, was not such negligence per se that no other inference could be drawn but that plaintiff was negligent, and his negligence contributed to his injury as a proximate cause, but it was for the jury to say, under all of the facts and circumstances of the case, whether his injury was due to the negligence of the defendant, and whether or not the negligence of the defendant was the sole cause of his injury, or whether the plaintiff’s negligence in any manner contributed to his injury as a proximate cause, in which latter event he, the plaintiff, would not be entitled to recover, and in the former he would. If by reason of misinformation by the conductor that he would stop the train at this point, and the conductor had been informed by the plaintiff he intended to get off there, and the conductor told him it was all right and failed to stop the train after this, and the passenger, relying on this information, attempts to get off of the train, the carrier under these circumstances would be liable in damages, provided *459 there was no contributory negligence on the part of the party injured as a proximate cause.
In the case of Wilcox v. Southern Railway Co., 91 S. C. 71, 74 S. E. 122, it was held: “Where a conductor misinforms a passenger as to the schedules on his own road the carrier is liable for any actual damage resulting to the passenger therefrom,” and in the same case it was held: “It is within the scope of duty of a ticket collector, from the evidence here, to inform a passenger as to the schedule of trains on his own road * * * Whether the minis formation given a passenger by the ticket collector as to the schedule of a train was mere inadvertence, or reckless, or wanton, under the proof, was a matter for the jury.” There is no question in this case but that Conductor McCain was in charge of the train and acting in the scope of his authority when he stated that the train would stop at Fleming street crossing-, and was informed by the plaintiff that he proposed to get off there.
“The standing of a passenger on a platform of a moving coach is not per se negligence * * * Whether a passenger is guilty of negligence in alighting from a passenger train running at full speed, depends upon the facts of the particular case, and is a question for the jury. Doolittle v. Southern Railway, 62 S. C. 130, 40 S. E. 133.”
*460 The third question contended for by appellant here is, that the plaintiff’s contributory negligence should defeat his recovery; this is disposed of by what has been heretofore said. From all the evidence and circumstances in the case it cannot be said, as a matter of law, that the plaintiff was guilty ’of contributory negligence so as to prevent a recovery by him. This was properly left to the jury foi their determination.
All of the exceptions are overruled, and judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Cunningham v. Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railroad.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Carrier — Passenger—-Issues.—That a. passenger knew a train had formerly stopped at a street crossing to let off passengers; that the conductor assured him it would stop there; that when the train slowed down for the crossing he went out on the steps to get off and was thrown down by a sudden jerk of the train, carries to the jury the issues of negligence, wilfulness and contributory negligence. 2. Ibid. — A conductor of a passenger train may bind the carrier by promising a passenger that the train would stop at a street crossing. Here the city ordinance required the train to stop at the crossing in question. 3. Punitive Damages — Verdict.—Where a verdict is for actual damages only, alleged error in failing to direct a verdict for punitive damages does not arise.