11 Ga. App. 242 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1912
The plaintiff recovered a verdict for $400 for personal injuries received by him while alighting from a street-car in the city of Macon. The defendant made a motion for a new trial, based upon the general grounds, which was overruled, and the case is before this court solely on questions of fact.
The evidence in behalf of the plaintiff shows that he boarded the defendant’s street-car, for the purpose of going to Crump’s park, a pleasure resort near Macon. He asked the conductor if that car was going to Crump’s park, and the conductor told him it was not, that he would have to take a Yineville car, and he replied that he would get off, and the conductor said, “All right. Get out and catch the Yineville car.” He put his foot on the ground. The car was going, and it threw him down, and his arm was broken by the fall. The evidence is not clear as to whether the car was moving when the plaintiff attempted to alight, and whether his foot coming in contact with the ground threw him, or whether, while he was in the act of alighting, the car moved immediately and the motion threw him down. It is insisted on the part of the railway company that the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence of the plaintiff is that he attempted to get off the car as it was actually moving, and that in doing so he was guilty of such contributory negligence as would bar his right to recover. It may be stated that the only evidence as to the manner in which'the injury occurred was that of the plaintiff himself. The only witness for the defendant was the conductor, who testified positively that no such incident occurred as was narrated by the plaintiff.
The question was exclusively for determination by the jury. A careful examination of the plaintiff’s evidence raises a reasonable inference that he may have been injured by the sudden motion of
We think that this applies more clearly to attempts to alight from moving street-cars than from cars propelled by steam; and the fact that, in attempting to alight from a moving street-car, the passenger was encouraged to do so by the direction of the conductor in charge, would be a strong circumstance supporting the view that the act did not amount to negligence. Certainly, under the facts in this, case, the question was clearly one of fact, to be determined exclusively by the jury; and it is equally clear that the conclusion at which the jury arrived is not unsupported by the evidence or reasonable inferences therefrom.
Judgment affirmed.