41 Del. 415 | Del. Super. Ct. | 1941
The plaintiff, a passenger for hire on a bus operated by the defendant, sued to recover damages for personal injuries occasioned by the negligence of the defendant’s operator. The second count of the declaration charged that “while the plaintiff was in the aisle of the bus walking to a seat,” the defendant negligently “started the said bus too suddenly before the said plaintiff had reached a place of safety in said bus and caused the said bus to back into an automobile which was parked directly behind the said bus thereby causing the plaintiff to be thrown” against some fixture.
A plaintiff, in calling upon another to respond in damages resulting from his act or omission, must set forth the default, not in language that is vague or by terms that are general, but fully and fairly, so that the defendant may be informed with reasonable certainty of what he is required to meet. Campbell v. Walker, 1 Boyce 580, 76 A. 475.
The adverbial phrase, “too suddenly” is used in immediate connection with the averment that the plaintiff was in the aisle of the bus walking to a seat, and before the plaintiff had reached a place of safety. Fairly construed, the sense of the averment is that a seat in the bus was the place of safety relied upon, and that the starting of the bus before the plaintiff had reached that haven was a too sudden, or negligent act.
Negligence may be the omission to do that which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or. the doing of something which such man would not do. Reasonable men govern their conduct by the circumstances which are before them or are known to them. Reasonable foresight of harm is essential in the concept of negligence. The rules of human conduct, which we call the law, are pretty much as the people in general want them to be. The general public, in travel by street car or the more modern bus, demands rapid transportation. Thousands ride in public conveyances without being seated, for the reason that they do not view the practice as inherently dangerous. They expect some jolt or jar in starting, and govern themselves accordingly. They expect only that the
This brief discussion and announcement of principle has been thought necessary, even though the plaintiff disavows this theory of liability, for the reason that it is an entirely admissible theory under the language of the declaration, and because the plaintiff insists that it is the duty of carriers to carry passengers safely, a duty which is not to be sacrificed to keep pace with new modes of transportation.
The plaintiff’s theory of liability is that the defendant was negligent in that the operator of its bus started the conveyance suddenly and backward and caused it to collide with an automobile parked in its rear. This is a possible construction of the language, but it is by no means a necessary construction. The word “sudden” is a word of somewhat varied meaning. It may have the significance of “quick,” “rapid,” “unexpected,” “without previous notice,”
The demurrer is sustained.