128 Mo. App. 37 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1907
Plaintiff having been injured by a fall, instituted this action to recover damages from defendant, alleging the accident was due to its negligence. The defendant company was putting in a foundation for a building on the west side of Fourth street in the city of St. Louis, near Lucas avenue. This work was being carried on under a permit from the city au
It is insisted that on the entire evidence plaintiff was shown conclusively to have been guilty of negligence contributing to the accident, and, therefore, should have been nonsuited. The argument is that the effect of the evidence is that plaintiff was paying no attention to his footsteps, or the security of the sidewalk, but had permitted his attention to be diverted from his course to watch the work on the foundation; and this inattention to his own safety was the proximate cause of the fall, as otherwise he would, have observed the hose across the walk and have avoided stumbling over it. This argument loses sight of plaintiff’s testimony. He swore he was walking along in the ordinary way, looking straight ahead of him. An effort was made on cross-examination, to get him to state that his vision did not take in the
The jury returned a verdict for $2,800, and it is contended this was grossly excessive and the result of passion and prejudice and should have been set aside. The facts regarding the injury as established by the testimony of the plaintiff, of the physician who attended him throughout his succeeding ailment, and of another physician who examined him shortly before the trial, were substantially these: plaintiff was stunned by the fall, but arose and went to his place of business a few blocks away. That night he went by rail to his home at Ferguson, a suburban town some twelve miles from St. Louis. Before he got to his place of business his knee pained him and became stiff, so that when he undertook to go to his train he had to aid himself in walking by leaning against the buildings. He was helped on the train by friends and met at the Ferguson station by his physician, who drove him home. By that time his leg was swollen and painful. The injury was to the left knee and the ligaments of.the leg, the swelling extending over the lower third of the thigh. The limb was put in a plaster cast, and the casts were changed from time to time as they became painful; but the leg was kept in a cast for nearly three months. Plaintiff was able to go about on crutches, which he used for three months, and subsequently was able to walk with a cane which he used for "another three months. It seems the membranes about the knee joint were ruptured, letting out the fluid which lubricates the joint. The effect of this, according to the physicians, was a gradual roughening
The judgment is affirmed.