62 A.2d 861 | Conn. | 1948
The plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries caused by negligence of a waitress in spilling hot coffee on her in the defendants' restaurant. The defendants have appealed from a judgment for the plaintiff on grounds of lack of proof of agency and of sufficient injury to justify the damages awarded.
The facts found, which are not subject to correction, may be summarized as follows: On July 29, 1946, the plaintiff, a housewife thirty-one years of age and in good health, was seated on a stool at the counter of the defendants' restaurant when a waitress negligently tipped a cup of very hot coffee on the plaintiff's left thigh and legs, causing severe pain and first-degree burns. The plaintiff instinctively jumped up and struck her right knee against an adjoining stool. She received treatment for her burns from a local physician. On the third or fourth day after her injury trouble developed in her right knee. She received medical and hospital treatment, her right leg was encased in a cast and her injury was diagnosed as neuritis of the common peroneal nerve at the knee joint, caused by the blow to her knee. The plaintiff weighed *238 261 pounds at the time of her injury, although active in her work and recreation. Her knee failed to improve after the cast was removed and she was upset and nervous. She was put on a weight-reducing diet and continued to have medical care. Her knee injury is not permanent but disabled her at the time of trial, approximately fifteen months after the accident, and would continue to cause her pain. Her medical expenses were $543.25. The court awarded her $2000 damages.
The negligence of the waitress is not questioned. That she was the defendants' agent engaged in their work was the only reasonable conclusion the court could reach on the evidence. She was behind the defendants' counter serving food, and no claim was made that she was there without authority. She assumed to act for the defendants and was performing acts indicating that she was. Cupo v. Royal Ins. Co.,
The defendants claim that the amount of the judgment is excessive, on the basis of medical testimony that a considerable part of the plaintiff's suffering was a result of anxiety and her obesity. The defendants took her as they found her. Sapiente v. Waltuch,
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.