Texas Cent. R. Co. v. Driver
Texas Cent. R. Co. v. Driver
Opinion of the Court
Mrs. Willie Driver, joined by her husband, E. D. Driver, instituted this suit to recover damages for personal injuries to Mrs. Driver, alleged to have been proximately caused by the negligence of the railroad company at Waco, Tex., when and where Mrs. Driver was a passenger upon one of appellant’s passenger trains. Briefly stated, it was alleged that when the train upon which Mrs. Driver was a passenger arrived at Waco, at which point the necessities of her further journey required her to alight, she attempted to get off the train, and that in doing so she fell to the ground and received the injuries specified in her petition. It was charged that the company was negligent in failing to provide a. step placed upon the ground at the passenger coach upon which she might alight with safety, and also negligently failed to have any one stationed at the coach steps to assist her in alighting. The defendant pleaded the general denial and also that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in attempting to get off the train at the time and under the circumstances. The case was submitted to the jury upon special issues, in answer to which the jury found that the defendant was guilty of negligence as charged in the plaintiff’s petition. They further found that Mrs. Driver was not guilty of negligence, and assessed her damages at the sum of $1,000, for which the judgment was rendered, and the defendant has appealed.
“Would the employes of defendants in the exercise of that degree of care and caution which a very prudent and cautious person would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances have foreseen that Mrs. Driver, under all the circumstances, and at the time and place in question, would attempt to alight from defendant’s train and fall and be injured?”
The court submitted in general terms the issue of whether the plaintiff was guilty of a want of ordinary care at the time and under the circumstances in attempting, as she did, to alight from the train, but, as it seems to us, under the evidence the special instruction requested should have been given. The defendant was entitled to have presented in an affirmative form the issue, and the evi *982 dence in behalf of appellant was to the effect that the train in stopping did so at a point a few hundred feet before it had reached the depot platform, because of the presence of a north-bound train; that when the train stopped upon which the plaintiff was riding, the conductor went through the train and informed the passengers generally that all persons who desired to take the north-bound train should then get off, but that others should remain where they were seated until the train pulled into the depot; that a number of passengers then did alight from the train, the conductor at the time going to the steps of the coach with a .stool and assisted a number of passengers, who were desiring to take the north-bound train, to alight; that he remained at the steps for the purpose of assisting passengers to alight for some ten minutes, and until all passengers intending to do so, as he supposed, had alighted, whereupon he placed the stool upon the platform of the car and went forward to speak to the engineer; and that it was during such absence on the part of the conductor that the plaintiff came out of the coach and attempted to alight, as she did, with the step removed.
In determining whether or not the defendant was guilty of actionable negligence as charged, a necessary element was whether the employes of the defendant in charge of the train could have foreseen, by an exercise of the highest degree of care, whether Mrs. Driver would, under the circumstances, attempt to alight from the train. Unless they could have .done so, it cannot be said that the negligence charged was the proximate cause of Mrs. Driver’s injuries, and, as it seems to us, defendant’s evidence raises this issue, and that therefore it was entitled to have the issue presented in its special request submitted. See T. & P. Ry. Co. v. Reed, 88.Tex. 439, 31 S. W. 1058; Washington v. M., K. & T. Ry. Co., 90 Tex. 314, 38 S. W. 764; Mex. Nat. Ry. Co. v. Mussette, 86 Tex. 708, 26 S. W. 1075, 24 L. R. A. 642.
All other assignments of error are overruled, but for the errors indicated it is ordered that the judgment be reversed, and the cause remanded.
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Reference
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- TEXAS CENT. R. CO. Et Al. v. DRIVER Et Ux.
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