190 N.Y. 256 | NY | 1907
The plaintiff has recovered a verdict in damages for personal injuries, which, he alleged, were occasioned through the negligence of the defendant, and the judgment has been affirmed by the Appellate Division. The plaintiff was, at the time of his accident, an infant of over seven years of age. While crossing the tracks of the defendant, in the city of Buffalo, he was run down by a locomotive engine and received the injuries of which he complains. According to the evidence, on either side, the engine approached the street crossing at a rate of speed not to exceed three to four miles an hour. The plaintiff's claim was that his foot was caught in a gap in the planking of the sidewalk, upon which he was passing, where it met the rail of the track and that, while helpless therefrom, the engineer, though he could see him, neglected to stop his engine. The case presented, mainly, a question of fact upon the evidence with respect to the way in which the accident occurred and we might affirm the judgment, without any expression of opinion, were it not for the ruling of the trial court upon a certain request made by the defendant. The plaintiff himself was not examined. His father testified that he had been "a bright, intelligent boy;" who had, for two summers, attended school and who was accustomed to pass over the same way every few days, for the past few years.
The trial judge, in his charge, left it to the jury to say whether the plaintiff was of "sufficient mental capacity by reason of his age to appreciate danger and exercise caution." Upon the conclusion of the main charge, the court was requested by the defendant, further, to charge "that the burden of proving that the plaintiff was unable to properly care for himself at the time of the accident is upon the plaintiff." *258
The judge refused to charge as requested; holding, upon the authority of Costello v. Third Ave. Railroad Co. (
While, therefore, the ruling of the trial court was erroneous, I do not think that the error was material, or prejudicial, to the defendant. The course, which the trial of the issue took, made it of no importance whether the plaintiff was, at the time,sui juris or non sui juris. According to the evidence for the plaintiff, he was unable to withdraw his foot from the hole between the plank of the sidewalk and the rail and the *259 engine was at such a distance, and was proceeding at such a moderate rate of speed, as to have permitted the engineer to stop in time to avoid an accident. According to the evidence for the defendant, the plaintiff, when the engine was within ten feet, or less, of him, attempted to cross in front of it and was run over. The trial court, in its main charge to the jurors, had instructed them that, if they accepted the testimony of the defendant's witnesses, as to the plaintiff going upon the track when the engine was within a few feet of the crossing, he could not recover. But, still more broadly and favorably, at the defendant's request, the trial court, further, charged that "if the jury find that the plaintiff, whether sui juris or non suijuris, failed to exercise such care as was commensurate with his years and intelligence then the verdict must be for the defendant."
It seems to me very clear, under the circumstances, that the defendant cannot be said to have been prejudiced by the erroneous ruling in question and, therefore, the judgment should be affirmed, with costs.
CULLEN, Ch. J., EDWARD T. BARTLETT, HAIGHT, WERNER, WILLARD BARTLETT and HISCOCK, JJ., concur.
Judgment affirmed.