Cicero & Proviso St. Ry. Co. v. Brown

89 Ill. App. 318
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 31, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 89 Ill. App. 318 (Cicero & Proviso St. Ry. Co. v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cicero & Proviso St. Ry. Co. v. Brown, 89 Ill. App. 318 (Ill. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Windes

delivered the opinion of the court.

For appellant, it is claimed that the court erred in sustaining the demurrer to the pleas of the statute of limitations; in failing to give to the jury instruction Ho. 17 requested by appellant and marked “ Given;” in giving appellee’s third instruction; andin refusing numerous instructions requested by appellant; and that the verdict was so excessive as to show such passion and prejudice on the part of the jury as to vitiate the verdict.

For the purpose of considering the question raised as to the statute of limitations, we need only consider the original declaration and the two additional counts filed during the progress of the trial. The amended declaration, filed May 16, 1896, is out of the case, a demurrer thereto having been sustained, and the amended declaration filed May 31; 1898, was withdrawn by the plaintiff after filing the said additional counts.

The original declaration alleges that appellant’s railway was operated along the streets and highways of the city of Chicago, in Cook county, without specifying any particular street or highway, and that while plaintiff was a passenger on one of its cars, the accident happened, while she was going east at a point near the intersection of said railway and Fiftieth street. The first additional count, to which the pleas of the statute of limitations were interposed, alleges, in substance, the same matters as the original declaration, except that the place of the accident was at or near Fifty-first street and Lake street, while the car was going in an easterly direction on Lake street, and the second additional count has like allegations to those in the original declaration, except that it alleges the place of accident to have been at or near Fiftieth street and Lake street, while the car was going in an easterly direction. Under the original declaration, proof that the accident happened at the intersection of Lake street and Fiftieth street would have sustained the declaration, and the same proof would sustain the allegations in this regard of either of the additional counts. Certainly it sustains the second additional count. At most this proof could only amount to a variance from the allegation of the first additional count, and not a failure to prove the substance of the cause of action stated in the declaration. In actions of this class the cause of action is “ the act or thing done, or omitted to be done, by the one which confers the right upon another to sue; in other words, the act or wrong of defendant toward the plaintiff which causes a grievance for which the law gives a remedy.” Swift v. Madden, 165 Ill. 41; R. R. Co. v. Campbell, 170 Ill. 163.

The claim of appellant that no cause of action was stated in the original declaration, and therefore that the additional counts, under the case of Eylenfeldt v. Ill. Steel Co., 165 Ill. 185, could not be said to be a restatement of what before had not been stated, is not, in our opinion, tenable. As seen by the statement preceding this opinion, the original declaration states a goo'd cause of action, and the additional counts, to which the pleas of the statute of limitations were interposed, are but a restatement, in different form, of the same cause of action set up in the original declaration, and this being so, the demurrer to the pleas of the statute of limitations was properly sustained. R. R. Co. v. Gillison, 173 Ill. 264-8; R. R. Co. v. Souders, 178 Ill. 585; R. R. Co. v. Leach, 182 Ill. 359; Griffin Wheel Co. v. Markus, 180 Ill. 393.

Instruction Bo. 17, which was requested by appellant, and marked given, for some reason, unexplained by the record, did not go to the jury. The instruction was proper, but we are of opinion that the fact that it did not get to the jury is not reversible error. Its substance is covered by other instructions, Bos. 2, 7, 13 and 16, given for appellant.

The third instruction given for appellee is criticised because it is claimed that it allows the jury to consider as an element of damage future suffering, not necessarily or directly resulting from physical pain by reason of her injuries, and to allow appellee for loss of time and inability' to work on account of her injuries. This instruction is not, in our opinion, subject to criticism in either of the ■ respects mentioned. The future suffering which the jury is allowed to consider, is that which they may believe from the evidence the plaintiff had sustained or would sustain by reason of her injuries, so far as the same is claimed and alleged in the declaration. In this respect we think the instruction was proper. R. R. Co. v. Martin, 111 Ill. 219; R. R. Co. v. Taylor, 170 Ill. 49; R. R. Co. v. Johnson, 180 Ill. 286.

The fact that appellee’s earnings and rate of wages were not proven, we think is immaterial, so far as respects her loss of time and inability to work. The evidence shows that prior to the injury she made her living by washing and ironing, and was a reasonably strong and healthy woman, and pursued this calling for 37ears before her injury. After her injury, the evidence shows that she was unable to work and lost considerable time by reason of the injury, and we think, considering this evidence, the instruction was proper, as it relates to her loss of time and inability to work. No other criticism is made of this instruction.

There was no error in refusing the twentieth instruction requested by appellant. It tells the jmy that there was no evidence tending to show injury to plaintiff’s eyesight by reason of the accident. The instruction is covered by instruction No. 12, given for appellant, in which the jury are told that every item and element of damage claimed by the plaintiff must be shown by a preponderance of the evidence before it can be allowed. The twent3'-first instruction was also properly refused for the same reason. It contains a like direction as to drugs, care, attention, etc. This latter. instruction was also properly refused because the evidence shows that a Dr. Newell visited plaintiff three or four times and treated her for her injuries; that she had not paid him an3Tthing, and that he considered that she owed him $10 or $15, which he said was a fair compensation. We think the doctor would be entitled to recover from her a reasonable charge for his services, and that the jury could properly consider his evidence, which by the instruction was taken from them by the court.

Appellant’s instruction No. 24 is substantially covered by its instructions Nos. 3 and 5. Its instruction No. 26 is argumentative, and the substance of it is covered by instructions 8 and 10, given. Instructions numbered 28 and 34, refused, are, in substance, covered either wholly or in part by instructions numbered 6, 8, 10, 11,13, 14 and 16, given. We are therefore of opinion that each of those refused instructions'was properly refused. Ho other error in rulings or instructions is claimed.

The claim of appellant that the verdict was so excessive as to show passion and prejudice on the part of the jury, and that it is not cured by the remittitur, is not, in our opinion, tenable under the facts shown in this record.

The evidence is very voluminous, and to set out even the substance of it would unduly extend this opinion.

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Bluebook (online)
89 Ill. App. 318, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cicero-proviso-st-ry-co-v-brown-illappct-1900.