Bannigan v. Woodbury

132 N.W. 77, 166 Mich. 491, 1911 Mich. LEXIS 545
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 5, 1911
DocketDocket No. 78
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 132 N.W. 77 (Bannigan v. Woodbury) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bannigan v. Woodbury, 132 N.W. 77, 166 Mich. 491, 1911 Mich. LEXIS 545 (Mich. 1911).

Opinion

Blair, J.

This suit is brought for the purpose of recovering damages for personal injuries claimed to have been occasioned by the negligence of Edward Woodbury. Since the case was tried in the court below, Mr. Wood-bury has died, and the case has been revived against D. E. Altland, administrator of Mr. Woodbury’s estate. It is the claim of the plaintiff that the injury occurred by reason of a piece of glass falling from a building located on one of the principal streets in the city of Kalamazoo and striking the plaintiff’s hat, and, glancing from the same, cut plaintiff’s cheek. This action was not brought against Mr. Woodbury as the owner of the property in question, but against him as agent having control of this property at the time the accident occurred. The case has previously been before this court upon demurrer to the declaration and the demurrer overruled. Bannigan v. Woodbury, 158 Mich. 206 (122 N. W. 531, 133 Am. St. Rep. 371). At the conclusion of plaintiff’s case, a motion was made by the attorneys for the defendant that a verdict be directed in his favor. This motion was denied. After the rendition of the verdict, a motion was made for a new trial, which was also denied, and to which exceptions were duly taken. Plaintiff recovered a verdict of $5,000, and defendant brings the record to this court for review upon writ of error. Counsel for defendant group their assignments of error under five heads, which we consider, so far as necessary to a disposition of the case, in their order.

1. The judgment of the court below should be reversed because there is no evidence in the case showing that this injury resulted from the negligence of defendant Edward Woodbury.

This proposition is predicated upon the testimony of a [493]*493witness for plaintiff, who was the only person who saw the glass fall. She testified, in substance, that she saw the pane of glass fall from the third-story window.

“ I saw it a long time before that week. I saw that glass a good many times. I didn’t take particular notice until about a week before.
“Q. Why didn’t you take particular notice before that ?
“A. It was in there so bad it just kept cracking and breaking all the time.”

She had seen the broken glass shake in the wind—

“And I was afraid it would fall out. I first noticed that the week before, but it kept getting worse, kept breaking. That is correct. I don’t know how many days I noticed it during the last week. I couldn’t say. I noticed it that once, and every time I would go up in the window I would look at that glass and see how badl.y it was broken. * * * It was broken right in the center —in the very center of it.
“Q. Right straight across ?
“A. Yes; there was pieces out of the center falling out. You could stick your hand through.
“Q. There was a crack across the center ?
“A. No, sir; a hole in the center of the window you could put your hand through, and the glass all around that cracked.
“Q. A hole as big as your hand in the center of the window ?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. The glass was all cracked around that hole?
“A. Yes, sir; up on top and around the side, one corner was broken, that was the corner that fell, a large piece.
“Q. One corner of the glass was broken ?
“A. In that pane of glass.
“Q. So it looked as though some one had thrown a stone through it ?
“A. Yes, sir; that is the way it looked to me.
“Q. A base ball or something ?
“A. Yes, sir.”

The testimony of this witness tends to support the allegations of the second count of the declaration that the said defendant—

[494]*494“ Allowed and permitted the said building and windows in the east end thereof to become out of repair, and to remain in a dilapidated, worn, and unsafe condition, in this, to wit: That on the east end on the third floor of said building were three windows; that the glass in said windows was cracked, broken, and insecurely fastened to the sash; * * * that it was great negligence * * * to permit and suffer said building and the windows therein and particularly the glass in said windows to remain in a dilapidated, worn, and unsafe condition, and to permit said glass to be left in said windows in the condition above set forth.”

2. The court erred in his charge to the jury upon the question of the duty resting upon the defendant to make inspection of the building in question.

The circuit judge charged the jury upon this subject as follows: That it was necessary for plaintiff to show—

“ That the cause of the glass falling was that the window had become out of repair in some way, so that the glass was loose and liable to fall, and that this, defect had existed for such a length of time that the defendant knew of it, or in the exercise of that care and prudence which a reasonably prudent person would have exercised under like circumstances he should have known it. * * * A man cannot close his eyes to conditions, and then excuse himself by claiming he did not know the conditions. If he could have known by a reasonable inspection, he is just as liable in an action for damages as he would be if he had actual knowledge. In other words, the term ‘ knowledge ’ or ‘ notice ’ may be either actual or constructive; that is, if the testimony had shown that Mr. Wood-bury had personally seen the defects complained of in the declaration, before the accident occurred, that would be what is called actual notice. If he did not do that, if the evidence is silent upon that point, if you do not find by a preponderance of the evidence that he did, it would be your duty to consider whether he had, what is termed in the law, ‘constructive notice;’ that is, whether the property had been in such a state of dilapidation as is alleged in the declaration, and that those defects had existed for such a length of time as would naturally have caused a reasonably prudent and careful person to have observed it. If he did not use such prudence and that reasonable care, he would be chargeable under the law with [495]*495what is called in the law constructive notice, and would be just as liable, if you find that to be true, as though he had actually seen it.
If you find from the evidence that the defendant was in charge of and in control of this building, either as administrator of the estate of Jeremiah P. Woodbury or individually, and you find that this glass which struck and injured the plaintiff, if it did, came from one of the windows of this building, and that said window was out of repair and the glass was loose, insecurely fastened and broken, and that this defect had existed for a sufficient length of time so that the defendant could, or should, in the exercise of reasonable diligence, have discovered the ■defect, then the plaintiff would be entitled to recover.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 N.W. 77, 166 Mich. 491, 1911 Mich. LEXIS 545, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bannigan-v-woodbury-mich-1911.