Bell v. Central Electric Railway Co.

103 S.W. 144, 125 Mo. App. 660, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 161
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 20, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 103 S.W. 144 (Bell v. Central Electric Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Central Electric Railway Co., 103 S.W. 144, 125 Mo. App. 660, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 161 (Mo. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

Action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by the negligence of defendant. Plaintiff recovered judgment in the sum of eight hundred dollars and defendant appealed. The injury occurred, in the afternoon of March 26, 1904. Plaintiff was a passenger on an electric car operated by defendant on one of its lines of street railway in Kansas City. The car was running- eastward on Independence avenue and as it approached Charlotte street, a regular stopping place, plaintiff gave the signal [663]*663to stop, as she desired to alight at that point. The evidence introduced by plaintiff tends to show that in obedience to the signal the car came to a full stop at the east line of Charlotte street, its accustomed stopping place, and plaintiff left her seat and proceeded to depart. Two other passengers preceded her, who left the ear in safety, but plaintiff, while in the act of stepping from the last step to the street, was violently thrown to the pavement by the sudden starting of the car, and injured. During the tune the car was stationary, the conductor remained in the front part thereof, where he was engaged in collecting fares. The evidence offered by defendant is to the effect that when the signal to stop was given, the motorman reduced speed and the car was running a.t the rate of two or three miles per hour when it reached the west line of Charlotte street; that plaintiff attempted to alight at that point and that her fall was caused by the manner in which the attempt was made. •

The negligence alleged in the petition is that while plaintiff “was proceeding with due care and diligence to alight from said car, and while she had one foot on the step of said car and her other foot extended to step to the street frota said car step, the trainmen in charge of said ear who were then and there the agents, servants and employees of defendant, carelessly and negligently caused said car to start forward while plaintiff was in the aforesaid dangerous position in stepping from said car step, and before plaintiff had a reasonable time to alight from said car, and plaintiff was thereby thrown from said car step . . . that said trainmen, agents and employees of defendant then and there knew of plaintiff’s dangerous position in stepping, from said car step and of .the lack of reasonable time given her to alight safely frota said car, or by the exercise of reasonable care and diligence in their duties as such trainmen in then and there operating said car, could [664]*664have known of the same in time to have averted plaintiff’s injury.”

At the request of plaintiff, the court instructed the jury, in part, as follows: 1. “The jury are instructed that if you believe and find from the evidence that plaintiff was a passenger on one of defendant’s trolley street cars in charge of, and being operated by defendant’s trainmen, on or about March 26, 1901, that said car at that time was running east on Independence avenue from Grand avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, and that, at the intersection of Charlotte street with said Independence avenue, said car was stopped by defendant’s trainmen in. charge thereof for the purpose of allowing passengers thereon to alight therefrom, and that while said car was then and there stopped for said purpose, plaintiff attempted to alight from said car and that she Avas using reasonable care and diligence in so doing, and that, before she had had a reasonable time to safely alight from said car, and while she had one foot on the cal'" step and her other foot extended to step to the street, and that while defendant’s trainmen, in charge of said car, saw, or by the exercise of that high degree of care and vigilance described to you in instruction number two following, could have seen plaintiff so alighting from said car in time to have held said car stationary until she had safely alighted therefrom, defendant’s said trainmen in charge of said car then and there carelessly and negligently caused said car to suddenly start forward, whereby plaintiff was thrown violently to the street pavement and injured, then your verdict should be for plaintiff.”

2. “The jury are instructed that if you believe from the evidence that plaintiff was a passenger on defendant’s street car in question, and that while such a passenger was injured, while attempting to alight therefrom, and that she was exercising ordinary care [665]*665in attempting to alight, then before you can find against the plaintiff and in favor of defendant, the defendant company must prove to your satisfaction by a preponderance of the credible evidence in the case that its motortman and conductor then and there in charge of and operating said car could not have avoided injuring plaintiff, by the exercise of the highest practical degree of care that would have been exercised by very prudent persons, skilled as motormen and conductors, and engaged in operating a similar car under like circumstances.”

It is argued by defendant that under the facts premised in the last of these instructions, it was error to charge the jury that the burden of proof was on defendant to show that the trainmen “could not have avoided injuring plaintiff by the exercise of the highest practical degree of care that would have been exercised by very prudent persons, skilled as motormen and conductors, and engaged in operating a similar car under like circumstances.” Defendant, as a common carrier, was bound to employ the highest 'degree of care to avoid injury to its passengers, and in the performance of that duty, was required when signalled to stop at a regular stopping place, to bring the car to a complete stop and to hold it stationary until departing passengers, themselves in the exercise of reasonable care, could accomplish their departure in safety. Operators of street cars should not only hold the car stationary a reasonable length of time for passengers to alight, but when that has been done, it is the duty of the conductor, before giving the signal to start to look to the places of exit to ascertain that no passenger is in the act of alighting, and not to give the signal until all have left the car who are attempting to leave it at that place.

The burden was on plaintiff to show that her injury was the direct result of the negligence of which she complains, but when she introduced evidence to [666]*666the effect that she was a' passenger, that the car on which she was riding had been brought to a full stop for the purpose of discharging and receiving passengers; that it was suddenly started while she was stepping to the street and that she was injured in consequence of a fall caused by the start, these facts, if accepted by the jury, would carry with them the presumption that the starting of the car was the result of a negligent act on the part of the servants of defendant. The rule is the same as that applied in cases where a passenger is injured by some disaster to the vehicle in which he is riding, such as a collision, derailment, or breaking down. When the facts are established that the plaintiff was a passenger and was injured by some such occurrence, the prima facie presumption is that the injury was occasioned by setae negligence of the carrier “and the burden is cast upon the carrier to rebut and establish that there has been no negligence on its part and that the injury was occasioned by inevitable accident or by some cause which human precaution and foresight could not have averted.” [Clark v. Railway, 127 Mo. 197; Goodloe v. Railway, 120 Mo. App. 194; Reagan v. Transit Co., 180 Mo. l. c. 144; Dougherty v. Railway, 81 Mo. 325.] In Reagan v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
103 S.W. 144, 125 Mo. App. 660, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 161, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-central-electric-railway-co-moctapp-1907.