140 Ky. 111 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1910
Opinion of tub Court by
Affirming.
The answer of the company was a traverse and plea of contributory negligence. Upon a trial before a jury the appellee was awarded damages in the sum of one thousand dollars. A reversal is asked for two reasons: First, because the verdict is contrary to the evidence, and second, because the damages are excessive.
The appellee testified that while on the way to the depot the driver stopped to take in other passengers, and that when he stopped for this purpose he went away from the carriage, leaving the horses unattended, and they became frightened and ran away. That after they had run some distance, they made a sudden lunge, and she was thrown from the carriage to the street, injuring her very seriously. She further testified that previous to receiving the injuries complained of, she had always been a healthy woman, doing her own housework; that she was confined to her bed some three weeks on account of the injuries and was suffering from them at the time of the trial in March, 1910, and even then was unable to do her usual work without discomfort and pain. There was evidence that she was bruised on the hip and back, as well as internally; and her family physician testified in March, 1910, that the pains she complained of were, usually brought about by strain or injury to the lower abdominal muscles and the support of the bladder and womb. That although he did not consider her injuries permanent, it would yet be some time before the pain she complained of ceased. A Mrs. Carroll, a witness for the appellant company, at whose house the horses were standing immediately before they ran off, testified that the driver, who did not have the reins in his hands when the horses started to run, caught hold of them after they started and attempted to control the horses, but could not. That she saw the appellee fall from the carriage after the horses had run some distance, and went
What caused the horses to run off does not appear; but as one of them kicked at the driver when he attempted to get the reins preparatory to starting, and they immediately ran off, it is safe to infer that they were not ordinarily safe or gentle horses.
Upon the point as to whether Mrs. Long was thrown .out or jumped out, we have one witness saying she was thrown on.t and two that she jumped out, but it is not, under the facts of this case, material whether, she jumped out or was thrown out; in either state of case she was entitled to recover.
We also think the jury was authorized to find that the driver was negligent in not keeping hold of the reins, or hitching" his horses. Unless, he knew that the horses were gentle and would stand without being held, it was his duty to have his hands on the reins so that he could control them, or to have hitched them. There is no evidence that the horses were gentle or safe, and the presumption from their conduct is that they were not.
In respect to the amount' of damages awarded, we have often said, in cases like this, that it is practically impossible to estimate with any reasonable degree of certainty the sum that should be awarded as compensation; And so where it appears that the complaining party has suffered injury and the award is not so large as to appear excessive at first blush, or, to be the result of passion or
•The judgment of the lower court is- affirmed.