Butts v. City of Eaton Rapids

74 N.W. 872, 116 Mich. 539, 1898 Mich. LEXIS 729
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedApril 5, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 74 N.W. 872 (Butts v. City of Eaton Rapids) 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
Butts v. City of Eaton Rapids, 74 N.W. 872, 116 Mich. 539, 1898 Mich. LEXIS 729 (Mich. 1898).

Opinion

Long, J.

This action is brought to recover damages for injuries sustained by plaintiff which she claims to have received by stepping upon a broken board, or by catching her foot in a broken plank, causing her to fall. The place where the accident is claimed to have occurred is described as being upon the north side of East Hamlin street, in front of property owned by D. B. Hosier. The declaration charges that this walk in front of these premises had been for six months in a broken, dangerous, and unsafe condition, the planks rotten, broken, loosened, and displaced ; that the stringers had become rotten and decayed, and the nails rusted and broken; that the city had due notice and knowledge of the dangerous condition of the walk, and, after such notice and knowledge, had sufficient time to put the same in repair prior to the time of the injury complained of.

It appears that the plaintiff, in company with one Mrs. Lavilla Boatman, was going along this walk on the morning of October 14, 1895, when she claims the injury occurred. She testified:

“We were going to our work. I stepped on a board, and the board went down with me, and I tried to save myself, and in some manner, I don’t know, I think my toe on the left foot caught, and it threw me, and I stumbled. I tried to save himself, and it threw me very hard against the edge of the walk.”

She describes the place where she fell as being about [541]*541three or four feet west of the walk that leads up to the Hosier house. Mrs. Boatman was called as a witness for plaintiff, and testified that the place where plaintiff fell was 11 or 12 feet west of the walk that leads to the house; that she saw plaintiff fall, but could not describe, how she fell; that before the fall she had seen no broken board, but that after the fall she saw a broken board, and she and plaintiff threw it out of the walk; that the board was not broken straight across; that she visited the premises after the accident, with Mr. Butts, Mr. Hendee, and her husband, and pointed out the place, fixing it 11 or 12 • feet west of the walk leading to the house. Plaintiff’s husband testified that he went to the place of the accident with Mrs. Boatman and her husband. He says that he found the broken board, and a part of it thrown out, about the width of the walk west of the walk leading up to the Hosier house; that he examined this board, and found it rotten on the underside, and the stringer under it very much decayed; that this board was broken diagonally across; that he laid it down in the place it had apparently come out, and this place was where the plaintiff described the injury as having occurred. He also testified that he found other boards west of these that were loose, and tipped backward and forward when they were stepped on. There was also other testimony tending to corroborate the plaintiff in reference to the general bad condition of the walk, and which will be spoken of later.

The defendant introduced testimony tending to show that on October 12th, two days before the injury, some man whose name was unknown drove a wagon loaded with wood across this walk at the point where Mrs. Boatman testified that the accident occurred. Mrs. Hatfield, who lived in a part of the Hosier house, testified that she saw this man drive the load of wood across the walk, at about 12 feet west of the walk that leads to the Hosier house, on Saturday afternoon before the injury, about 4 o’clock. She told the man not to drive across there, as he would break the walk. When he drove across she heard [542]*542the boards crack. Mr. John Hatfield testified that he was over this walk 10 or 15 minutes after the plaintiff was injured. He saw the broken board at the point testified to by Mrs. Boatman, and saw the tracks indicating that a narrow-tired wagon had recently crossed the walk at that point; that he put in a new board there on the next day. Alderman Jenne testified that the next day after the injury he visited the place with Aldermen Miller and Crawford; that they saw where the new board had been put in; saw the wagon tracks, which were yet fresh, across the walk; and that there were no other broken boards in the walk west of the Hosier house. Mr. Boatman viewed the premises within a few minutes after the injury. He went with his wife, Mr. Hendee, and Mr. Butts. He saw the fresh wagon tracks about 11 or 12 feet west of the walk, saw tbe broken board there, and found no other defect. Edward Britton, the former city marshal, testified that he heard of the injury to plaintiff, and soon- thereafter went over to the place; that he found the board out at the place testified to by Mrs. Boatman; that he fixed it up temporarily; that he saw the fresh wagon tracks there of a narrow-tired wagon. None of these witnesses found, as they claim, any other board out of the walk, or any defect in the walk, except at this place. It appears from the testimony that the city, in the August preceding, had notified Mr. Hosier to repair this portion of the walk, and that he had repaired it then, and that the walk was accepted by the city.

The court charged the jury that, if they found the injury occurred on account of a defect in the walk made by the passing over it of a team and loaded wagon on Saturday afternoon or evening previous to the injury, and that the city did not have actual notice or knowledge of such defect, and reasonable time after such notice or knowledge to repair it, then it would not be liable. Counsel for defendant had asked the court to charge that the undisputed evidence showed that plaintiff was injured by stepping on the plank that was broken the Saturday previous, and [543]*543that, it being in an outlying portion of the city, plaintiff could not recover. This was refused. After verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff, a motion for new trial was made upon the ground, among others, that the verdict was against the evidence. This was denied. Claim is now made that the court should have granted a new trial for the reason above given.

We are not prepared to say that the court erred in this. There was evidence tending to show that the plaintiff was injured at a place east of the point where the wagon passed over. The plaintiff testified to it, and her husband corroborated .her testimony. He also testified that the board he found was rotten, while the other witnesses testified that the board which the wagon passed over was comparatively sound. We think the court very properly .submitted that question to the jury under the evidence produced upon the trial.

The court permitted the plaintiff to give evidence of the condition of this walk in front of the Hosier place during the fall, summer, and spring previous to the injury. It is claimed that, inasmuch as the city had caused the walk to be repaired in August previous to the injury, this testimony was misleading to the jury. There would be some force in this contention if it had not appeared by the testimony of witnesses that the walk continued to be in about the same condition after the claimed repairs were made. The witnesses testified that this walk, during the fall, summer, and spring previous to the injury, was in bad condition its entire length in front of the Hosier premises; that the boards were rotten and loose, and would rock under the foot while walking over them; that the sleepers were rotten; that the walk was built in 1882 or 1883. Testimony was then given tending to show that, while Mr. Hosier made some repairs by putting in a new board where one was badly broken, yet the general condition of the walk remained about the same when the injury was received. One of the witnesses said:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Herter v. City of Detroit
222 N.W. 774 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1929)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 N.W. 872, 116 Mich. 539, 1898 Mich. LEXIS 729, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butts-v-city-of-eaton-rapids-mich-1898.