66 Wash. 155 | Wash. | 1911
This is a suit to recover damages for personal injuries. At the close of the plaintiffs’ case, in response to a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, a judgment of dismissal was entered. The plaintiffs have appealed.
The facts are these: The respondents, as fraternal organizations, are the owners of a hall in the town of Sultan, known as Woodman’s Hall, and used for lodge and entertainment purposes. On the night of September 5, 1910, a play was given at the hall by the children of the town. The auditorium is thirty by seventy feet in dimensions, with a raised stage at its rear, nineteen by thirty feet. The hall is on the lower floor of the building. It is elevated at the rear about eight feet above the surface of the street. The front eleva
The stairway upon which she fell is thirty inches in width, about eight feet in height, and made of boards with an eight-inch tread and ten-inch risers, and is not covered. The night was so dark, she says, that in going up the stairway she could not see its condition. It was raining and the stairs, being without covering, were necessarily wet. There was no light at the alley or the stairway. The approach to the stairs is through an alley, with the building upon one side and a high board fence upon the other. The blackberry vines to which the lady referred project through the fence and across the alley. She testified that she knew the entrance which she chose was not the main entrance to the hall. The
Upon these facts, we think the learned trial court was not in error in withdrawing the case from the jury. The respondents had provided a safe and well-lighted stairway for all who desired to enter the hall. The size of the hall, the location and darkness of the rear stairway, and the presence of the blackberry vines, all pointed unmistakably to the fact that there was no invitation to the public to enter the hall or the stage in the manner chosen by the appellant. When she passed by the safe, well-lighted entrance and, at the.suggestion of a stranger, proceeded up the dark, slippery way, when the darkness was so great that she could not see the condition or character of the stairway, and with the warning that her path was obstructed by vines, she was guilty of negligence, and assumed the hazards which beset her. While her unfortunate injury is to be lamented, it cannot be said to have resulted from any negligence on the part of the respondents.
The judgment is affirmed.
Dunbar, C. J., Fullerton, Mount, and Parker, JJ., concur.