26 N.Y.S. 59 | New York City Court | 1893
Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been sustained by him through the negligence of the defendant’s servants. He obtained a verdict of the jury in his favor, and from the judgment entered thereon and the order denying a motion for a new trial, this appeal is taken.
It appeared from the evidence in the case that, on the 20th ■of October, 1892, plaintiff took passage on one of defendant’s horse cars near the corner of Fulton street and Alabama avenue, with a view of going to his residence. He was smoking a cigar at the time, and he got on the front platform of the car, and there paid his fare to the conductor. At and just beyond the point where plaintiff boarded defendant’s car, there is a net work of. rails and crossings and switches extending some considerable distance. As the car approached one of these switches or cross overs, the tongue of the switch being misplaced, the car was suddenly jerked onto the cross over, by reason of which plaintiff was thrown from the front platform
It is very plain to us, from a careful perusal of all the testimony in this case, that the question of the negligence of the defendant and of the lack of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff was a question for the jury. Enough was made out by the plaintiff on his side, uncontradicted, to entitle him to a submission of his case to the jury, and it would have been error to have dismissed the complaint at the close of the plaintiff’s case. After the presentation of the defendant’s evidence, there was a sharp issue presented between the parties on many important points in the case,. and it was essentially the province of the jury to determine those disputed points. Accordingly, we think that the motion to dismiss the complaint at the close of the plaintiff’s case, and which was renewed upon the whole case, was properly denied.
The verdict for the plaintiff in thiscase was for $7,500, and the learned counsel for the defendant has very strenuously contended that the amount of damages is excessive, and that this' court should exercise the power vested in it and reduce the verdict to what the defendant regards to be a more reasonable sum, and we are referred to Morris v. Eighth Avenue Railroad Co., 68 Hun, 39, as authority for such action on our part. We are unable to follow the conclusions adopted by the majority of the court in that case, and they seem to us to be in conflict with many other authorities on the subject. It has been repeatedly stated that the assessment of damages by a jury is one of the most useful attributes of the jury system, and it has come to be an almost universal rule .that courts will not interfere with the verdict of a jury,.unless they can perceive that it is the result of passion or prejudice, or reached by an utter disregard of the principles of law that the court has laid down for the jury’s guidance in determining the ease. The verdict in this case seems to us to be open to no one of these exceptions. It was shown that the injuries which plaintiff sustained were painful, severe and lasting; he was confined to the hospital under surgical treatment for a period of three months, and he is still attended by his surgeon, and still suffers great pain; his leg is permanently shortened; he will always be lame, and, according to the medical testimony, will not be able to stand on his feet all day at any employment, and could really earn his living to better advantage with an artificial foot. In the face of these facts, it cannot be said that the interest on the verdict is more than plaintiff’s earnings, and, therefore, the verdict is excessive; to so hold would be to ignore any compensation to the plaintiff for his pain and suffering, and his being permanently crippled. We are of the
Rone of the other exceptions in the case are tenable, nor do they seem to call for any special discussion. We are, accordingly, of the opinion that the judgment and order appealed from should be affirmed, with costs.
Yan Wyok, J., concurs.
Judgment and order affirmed.