180 Mo. App. 287 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1914
Lead Opinion
Suit for personal injuries. Plaintiff recovered verdict and judgment for two thousand dollars. Defendant has perfected an appeal to this court.
The plaintiff’s petition is based solely upon the humanitarian doctrine. The answer consists of a general denial, and a special defense which is in the nature of a general denial, admitting defendant’s incorporation, and alleging that plaintiff walked upon the track of the defendant in front of an approaching street car and so close thereto that the same could not by the exercise of ordinary care be stopped in time to have prevented the collision. At the close of all the evidence the defendant requested an instruction in the nature of a demurrer to the evidence which was refused, of which ruling, together with others to which we will refer, complaint is now made. As the plaintiff’s case, if she has a case, must withstand the attack made by the demurrer to the evidence, we will first notice that point.
There is evidence in the record tending to show a state of facts which we think clearly entitled the plaintiff to have her case submitted to the jury.
Summarized from a long record, the facts are about as follows: The defendant owns and operates an electric street railway system with a double track running east and west on Commercial street in the city of Springfield, Missouri, interesecting Lyon street which runs north and south and which has a sidewalk
There is no issue or question about her negligence in walking upon the track under the circumstances. The issue is as to whether the motorman in charge of the car saw or by the exercise of ordinary care could have seen plaintiff on the track or approaching the track in dangerous proximity thereto apparently oblivious of the approach of his car in time to have warned her by signals or to have checked the speed of the car or to have brought it to a stop in time to have averted the collision. In crossing the public street plaintiff was at a place where she had a right to be and at a place where the exercise of ordinary care required the motorman to be on the lookout for persons passing over or upon the track.
The evidence for the plaintiff tends to show that at a point one hundred and eighteen feet east of the point of collision a witness on the sidewalk on the south side of Commercial street observed the car which struck plaintiff going west at a speed of about ten or twelve miles an hour, at which time he saw the plaintiff slowly walking between the north curb line of Commercial street and defendant’s north track on which the car was approaching and on which the accident occurred. The evidence introduced by the plaintiff is of a negative character as to warning signals; that is, the plaintiff and two or three of her witnesses, one of
In order to declare as a matter of law that the plaintiff failed to make a prima-facie case under the humanitarian doctrine, it would be necessary to say that the peril in which the plaintiff placed herself did not and could not have been apparent to a reasonably prudent motorman until he had reached a point about forty-five feet from her. In view of the age of the plaintiff (though it appears that she was active for one of her years) and the fact that her head was wrapped up and that her face was at no time turned in a
Appellant complains of the petition because it merely states that the motorman failed and neglected to take the necessary steps to avert the collision, and does not charge that the acts which were done were negligently and carelessly done. This criticism is certainly refuted by the language used in the petition— for example — “plaintiff says that by reason of the negligence and carelessness of the defendant” ... “in charge of the car as aforesaid” . . . The carelessness and negligence charged could refer only to the acts and omissions of the defendant and its servants thereinbefore set out. A petition which sets out the acts about which the plaintiff is complaining with
A further complaint is made as to the petition in that the facts alleged and charges of negligence averred rob the case of the benefit of the humanitarian doctrine, and we are cited to the case of Grout v. Railroad, 125 Mo. App. 552, 102 S. W. 1026, in which case the petition clearly shows that the negligence consisted in the speed at which the car was being propelled, and the allegation of the petition discloses that at the speed at which the ear was running it could not have been stopped after the peril was discovered, and as was stated in the opinion in that case, the humanitarian rule takes into account the fact only that one is in danger and injury may be prevented by the exercise of ordinary care. The appellant’s contention that the allegation in the present petition is subject to the same criticism is not well taken because in charging a disregard of the exercise of ordinary care after defendant saw or could have seen the peril of the plaintiff the negligent acts consisted in a failure to give any signals or warning of the approach of the car, and a failure to check the speed of the car in time to have prevented the injury. It is the duty of one operating a dangerous instrumentality bearing down on another who is placed in a perilous position to use all the efforts that reasonable prudence dictates in checking the onward progress of such instrumentality, and also to give such warnings as are calculated to bring the one in peril to a realization of his dangerous position so that he may extricate himself. The charge of negligence in this petition, therefore, may be said to reasonably re
Complaint is made of plaintiff’s instruction No. 2 which is as follows:
“The court instructs the jury that if you find and believe from the evidence that on or about the twenty-eighth clay of March, 1912, the plaintiff was crossing Commercial street at the intersection of said street and Lyon street, and that said streets were public highways of Springfield, Missouri, and that as she was crossing the north track of said defendant, at the intersection of Lyon and Commercial streets, she was struck by a west-bound car of said defendant and violently thrown into the air and onto the pavement and by reason thereof was injured, and if you further find from the evidence that in crossing said track the plaintiff was in a perlious position arising from danger of being struck by said car, and that defendant’s motorman saw or by the exercise of ordinary care could have seen her in said situation of danger and that thereafter said motorman was negligent, in that he failed to exercise ordinary care in the use of the means at his command to avoid said collision (if you find he so failed), and that said motorman with due regard to the safety of his passengers could with ordinary care in the use of said means have avoided said collision and that as a direct result of said failure (if any) said plaintiff was struck and injured as aforesaid, then your verdict should be in favor of the plaintiff. And this you will do even though said plaintiff was negligent in crossing or going upon said track without looking or becoming aware of the approach of said car.”
It is claimed that this instruction- given for the plaintiff is broader than the charge of negligence laid in the petition. The petition charges that after the plaintiff’s perilous position was known, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have been known, defendant negligently failed to give any signal or warning and
In the case of Ellis v. Street Railway Co., 234 Mo. 657, 138 S. W. 23, the pleadings as shown on page 665 charge practically the same acts of negligence as are charged in the petition under review and the instruction in that case as shown on page 675 uses the exact language as is used in the instruction under review.
It is complained that said instruction No. 2 is self-contradictory and inconsistent in that it submits the humanitarian doctrine and at the same time declares that contributory negligence is excluded. This is a rather remarkable contention in a brief in view of the theory on which a recovery is had under the humanitarian doctrine; that rule is conceived in the admitted or proved negligence of the one injured. "When, one of these principles appears as a controlling element in a damage suit- the other must fail. The language of this instruction follows throughout the language of the instruction approved in the case of Ellis v. Street Railway Co., supra. That the instruction under consideration is proper is established by the following decisions: [Waddell v. Street Railway Co., 213 Mo. 8, 111 S. W. 542; Moore v. St. Louis Transit Co., 194 Mo. 1, 92 S. W. 390; Murphy v. St. Joseph, Etc. Co., 138 Mo. App. 436, 122 S. W. 334; Johnson v. Springfield T. Co., — Mo. App. — , 161 S. W. 1193.] We are referred to the case of Wallack v. St. Louis Transit Co., 123 Mo. App. 160, 100 S. W. 496, as being contrary to this ruling. The opinion in that case on this point was not concurred in
Appellant complains of instruction No. 1 fixing the measure of damages in that it permitted the jury to allow for such physical pain and suffering as directly resulted from the injuries, the nature and extent of such injuries and their probable duration, and that this is an instruction allowing for permanent injuries and that the evidence will not justify an instruction for damages for permanent injuries. We are cited the case of Prendenville v. St. Louis Transit Co., 128 Mo. App. l. c. 604, 605, 107 S. W. 453. In that case the opinion sets out that the physician unequivocally swears there was no permanent injury, and further that there was no evidence of any character to justify a jury in finding that the plaintiff was permanently injured. It seems that little inconvenience, if any, was attending the plaintiff in that case at the time of the trial. In the present case, the evidence does not disclose that any expert swore one way or another on the question. However, at the time of the trial (which occurred about two years after the collision), plaintiff testified she still suffered from the injuries received, and that she was unable to use her hand to any extent, that there is a scar left on her wrist weakening it, that one of her limbs was caused to drag and feel numb causing her in walking to drag her heel, that the muscles in her limb were drawn, and that she needed a cane to walk with. The testimony of her physician was that she was required to remain on her back in bed three or four weeks while she was in the hospital. Taking into consideration the age of the plaintiff, it would not be an unreasonable inference for the jury to draw that the result of some of the injuries will attend her throughout the remainder of her lifetime. The petition alleged permanent injuries and we think it was sufficiently sustained in this respect by the character of the
The court also gave the following instruction (No. 3) for the plaintiff:
“You are instructed that it was the duty of defendant’s motorman to keep a reasonable lookout for persons upon the track or approaching said track and going into a situation of danger, and if you find that plaintiff was approaching said track and that she was unconscious of the approach of said car and that it was apparent to a reasonably prudent person that she was unmindful of danger and was going upon said track, then it was the duty of the motorman to at once have taken precaution to avoid the collision.”
Appellant assaults this instruction as being erroneous in that it fails to state the entire principle and is indefinite. We will pass this by merely referring to the same instruction which received the approval of the Supreme Court in the case of Ellis v. Street Railway Co., supra, l. c. 676.
Instructions numbered 2 .and 3, aforesaid, given for plaintiff, correctly declare the law, and when read in connection with defendant’s given instructions on the humanitarian rule — which more fully elaborate, qualify and explain the doctrine as applied to the particular case — the jury certainly could not have been misled into believing that it made no difference when or where the plaintiff got on the track she was entitled to recover, because the instructions given for the defendant make it absolutely plain that if her advent
Defendant’s refused instructions on the question of contributory negligence were properly refused because the petition and the evidence and the instructions given made liability or no liability depend upon a condition or situation after the plaintiff’s negligence had placed her in snch situation, and the fact to be determined was whether that perilous position unknown to plaintiff and reasonably apparent to defendant' continued for such time and space as the law would require the defendant to avoid the collision.
Appellant assigns error in the introduction over its objection of the testimony of W. T. Curtis who was the only expert offered at the trial to testify concerning the distance within which a street car could be stopped which was traveling at the place in question and at the rate of speed plaintiff’s evidence shows this car was running immediately east of the point of collision. This witness is- shown to have been a motorman for the defendant company in the city of Springfield for a period of possibly ten years, but that his service had ended ten years before this trial and that he had been and was at the time of the trial in the real estate business. He was permitted over defendant’s objecT tions to swear that a street car could have been stopped,' going at a speed not greater than ten miles an hour, within about fifty feet, and that one going six or eight miles an hour could be stopped in something like forty feet.
To begin with, it is somewhat questionable whether a person who has had nothing whatever to do with the operation of a street car for ten years, with no showing that he had done anything to keep up in any way with
As the liability of the defendant largely depends upon whether the car could have been sufficiently checked or stopped after the first appearance of danger, it is important to know in what distance this particular car at this place could have been sufficiently checked or stopped, and without such evidence her case must necessarily fail. However, inasmuch as she may be able to supply this defect, we will not reverse the judgment outright.
In view of another trial it is proper to suggest that the instructions given for defendant contain several errors in its favor. We will not attempt to point the same out in detail, as they are not likely to occur again, further than to say that as the first part of the instruction numbered 11 tells the jury that under the law plaintiff at the time of the accident was guilty of negligence and plaintiff’s instructions tell the jury that contributory negligence is not a defense in this case under the theory on which plaintiff sues, no instruction ought to be given stating or implying that plaintiff’s negligence is a defense. Instruction numbered 4, and perhaps others, is faulty in this respect. Instruction numbered 4 also implies that defendant only owed the plaintiff the duty of stopping the car after it beame apparent that plaintiff did not hear the gong. This would be true only in case the car was such a distance from plaintiff at the time the motorman discovered her danger that he had time to have used both methods of avoiding the collision. If, at the time her danger was discovered, the car was too close to her to permit of experimenting with the gong first, then it became defendant’s duty to at once stop the car or to both sound the gong and stop the car simultaneously.
Concurrence Opinion
SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION.
I fully concur in the opinion of Judge Farrington in this case. In view of another trial I have thought it best to say that in my opinion instruction numbered 2, given for plaintiff and quoted in full in that opinion, when taken alone is faulty, in that, being an instruction on the whole case, it loses sight of one essential element of the humanitarian rule as applied to cases of this character, to-wit, that plaintiff must have been oblivious to her own danger and that such fact must have been reasonably apparent to the motorman in charge of the car. This element is given full recognition in plaintiff’s instruction numbered 3, also there quoted in full, in that the jury are told that if plaintiff “was approaching said track and that she was unconscious of the approach of said car and that it toas apparent to a reasonably prudent person that she was unmindful of danger and was going upon said track, then it was the duty of the motorman to at once have taken precaution to avoid the collision. ’ ’ It is true that these two instructions are taken from and approved in Ellis v. Metropolitan Street Ry. Co., 234 Mo. 657, 675, 138 S. W. 23, and'when taken together may be unobjectionable, but I do not find that the error here mentioned was there called to the court’s attention and it is not discussed.
That, in cases like this, the fact that plaintiff was unconscious of her danger and that this was reasonably apparent to the person operating the car is an essential element of the humanitarian doctrine, which holds defendant liable for its negligence regardless of the previous and contributory negligence of plaintiff, is shown by the Ellis case, supra, where the court says:
This doctrine is often called the “last chance doctrine” and is said to be based on the theory that defendant has the “last clear chance” to avoid the collision. It is clear that defendant does not have the last clear chance unless the plaintiff is oblivious of her own danger, for, if cognizant of her danger and free to act, the plaintiff has an equal or later chance to save herself; and, unless there is something to apprise the defendant that plaintiff is unaware of her peril, it would have a right to presume that plaintiff would refrain from going into a place of danger or, if already there, would extricate herself. In this respect a person oblivious to danger is treated much the same as a person who, from mental or physical infirmity, is incapable of appreciating danger or extricating himself therefrom.
It seems to me that in a case like this an instruction covering the whole case as to liability is deficient in merely telling the jury, as this one does, that if plaintiff, though by her own negligence, was in a perilous situation from danger of being struck by the car, and that defendant’s motorman saw or could have reasonably seen her in a situation of danger and the motorman was thereafter negligent in avoiding the injury, that plaintiff should recover, for this ignores the element of plaintiff being unaware of her danger and defendant’s knowledge of that fact. It seems to
This is not written because of any difference between my views and that of the other judges on this question.