86 Mich. 74 | Mich. | 1891
This is an action on the case for negligence. At the conclusion of the plaintiff's testimony the court directed a verdict for defendant, and plaintiff appeals.
The defendant operates a cable street railway on North Ionia street in the city of Grand Rapids. Plaintiff was a passenger, and, while alighting from the car, was by the movement of the car thrown down upon the ground and injured. At the time the train consisted of a grip-
Passengers upon street-cars are entitled 'to sufficient time to get off, and the duty of the carrier is not discharged until the passenger is free from the car. Plaintiff had testified that the coach did actually move, and that such movement threw him to the ground. In vi'ew of this testimony, the question of the probability or possibility of the movement of the car was for the jury, and not' for the court. It appeared that there was a very slight down grade in the direction in which the coach moved; and whether the sudden release of the brake or the conductor’s jump from the coach to the grip-car, or both, caused the movement of the coach and the plaintiff’s fall, should have been left to the determination of the jury. It was the duty of defendant not only to refrain from doing any act, under the circumstances, which would cause the coach to move, but to
The judgment will be reversed, and a new trial granted, with costs of this Court to plaintiff.