82 Miss. 583 | Miss. | 1903
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a suit for damages for personal injuries said to have been incurred by reason of the negligence of the city of Jackson on account of a defective bridge — a crossing upon a public street of said city. The principles of law governing such cases in this state are plain, simple, and free from doubt. ' We quote, to approve and indorse, the language of this court in the case of Nesbitt v. City of Greenville, 69 Miss., 22, 10 South., 152, 30 Am. St. Rep., 521: “Ordinary care over its streets is the measure of diligence imposed upon municipal corporations, and they are not insurers against injury to persons using the public streets. We do not dissent, from the elementary principle that, before the municipality can be held liable for injuries resulting from nuisances or defects in its streets, it must have knowledge of the nuisance or defect, and its danger. Notice there must he, to charge the municipality, but this notice may be actual or constructive or implied. Where the obstruction is created by the city itself, or where it permits an obstruction erected by another in its streets, it must take notice of such defects in the obstruction as ordinary care will discover. The structure in a street, to every part of which the public has the right of free access, must be erected in such manner and from such materials as to he reasonably safe, and it must be kept in this safe condition. Proper repairs, from time to time, are as much the duty of the city as a safe structure originally. Inseparably connected with this statement is another, viz.: that a municipality
In the case' at bar the foregoing propositions of law were correctly announced by the court in its instructions for plaintiff and defendant. In the light of the evidence in this case, we do not think that the instructions for plaintiff are open to the criticism of counsel for appellant. The facts, as developed upon the trial, show that on Sunday morning, December 23, 1900, the appellee, with two others, in the lawful and usual use of the streets, while on her way to the depot in the city, walking down the said walk in the manner usual for pedestrians, came to the bridge at which the injury is said to have occurred. One of her companions crossed in safety, but while the appellee was still on the crossing the other of her companions stepped on the plank, and their combined weight caused the plant to give way, and the bank of the ditch over which the plank was laid to cave, so that appellee was turned into the
The jury assessed damages in the sum of $1,000. The plaintiff was an old lady, sixty-three years of age, at the date of the injury. She had been making her living as a nurse. Her testimony, and all of the testimony for appellee, as to the extent and duration of her injuries, is vague and uncertain. From a careful consideration of this record, we are forced to the conclusion that the jury allowed a feeling of sympathy for an aged and dependent woman to lead them into awarding more than
Wherefore, if the appellee will enter a remittitur for $2,000, the judgment will be affirmed; otherwise reversed and remanded.