City of San Antonio v. Porter

59 S.W. 922, 24 Tex. Civ. App. 444, 1900 Tex. App. LEXIS 212
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 21, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 59 S.W. 922 (City of San Antonio v. Porter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of San Antonio v. Porter, 59 S.W. 922, 24 Tex. Civ. App. 444, 1900 Tex. App. LEXIS 212 (Tex. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

NEILL, Associate Justice.

This suit was brought by Lena Porter against the city of San Antonio to recover damages for personal injuries caused by the alleged negligence of the latter.

The substance of her allegations is that appellant negligently failed to erect barriers along the bank of the San Antonio Biver, on the north side of that part of Crockett Street which extends from St. Mary’s to Navarro Street, and by reason of such negligence that portion of the first named street was, on the 4th day of March, 1897, in an unsafe and dangerous condition. That on the day named, while she was seated in a buggy with a child, and driving a gentle and well trained horse along said street, the animal became frightened at a noise made by a passing float, or from some other cause unknown to appellee, and, without negligence on her part, backed her over said embankment, the buggy and horse falling upon and severely injuring her.

The city answered by- a general denial, special exceptions, and plead the general issue, contributory negligence, and accord and satisfaction. The exceptions to the petition being overruled, the cause was tried before a jury, and the trial resulted in a judgment in appellee’s favor for $5720.

Conclusions of Fact.—The evidence shows that the part of Crockett Street extending from St. Mary’s to Navarro Street is flanked on the north side by the San Antonio Biver; that at the time of the alleged accident the street' was open to the public, and was much used along its extension between the points where intersected between Navarro and St. Mary’s streets. That the street varied in width, the variableness being caused by the tortuous, course of the streamy from 18 to 30 feet; its surface was free from defects and obstructions, and reasonably safe for passage in the ordinary modes of travel. The distance on a vertical line from its surface to the water of the river is about 10 feet. The bank, however, next the street is not perpendicular, but in places nearly so, and where the accident occurred slopes from the street about 14 feet to the water’s edge, the inclination being about 60 degrees. No railings or barriers of any kind were erected or maintained for the safety of the *446 public by the city along the part of the street described between it and the river, and it was obvious to anyone using the street for travel that there were none.

Upon the 4th day of March, 1897, the appellee, a young lady, was driving with ordinary care along the part of Crockett Street before described, in a buggy with a 4-year-old child, when the horse drawing the vehicle, which was gentle and biddable and an ordinarily well trained buggy animal, became frightened, or for some cause temporarily uncontrollable, and backed the buggy with its occupants over the bank into the river. The evidence of three of the witnesses to the accident tends to show that by pulling on the lines, when the horse was in the act of backing, she contributed to the cause of her injuries. But her testimony, which is fully corroborated by that of another eyewitness, shows that she never pulled on the lines, and exercised every effort in her power to prevent the horse from backing the buggy over the bank

The buggy was the property of Mr. Glassburg, appellee’s brother-in-law, who presented a claim to the city council for damages to it occasioned by the accident. When his demand was presented to the council, the appellee appeared and testified as to the facts upon which the demand for damages originated. Damages were awarded by the city to Glassburg for the injuries to his vehicle, but such award did not include the damages sustained by appellee on account of her personal injuries, nor was her claim therefor presented to the council at that time.

From the evidence recited we conclude that the jury were warranted in finding the following facts:

1. That the city of San Antonio might have reasonably anticipated the occurrence of such accidents as the one which occasioned appellee’s injury to travelers in vehicles, exercising reasonable care, drawn by animals of ordinary gentleness and biddability; that in the exercise of ordinary care for the safety of the traveling public it was appellant’s duty to erect barriers along that portion of Crockett Street before described, so as to make it reasonably safe for the prevention of such injuries as were occasioned appellee, and that it was negligence in not doing so.

2. That the horse driven by appellee was one of ordinary gentleness and biddability, was driven and managed by her with ordinary skill and care, and when the danger from his backing the vehicle towards the river became imminent, she used every effort she was capable of under the circumstances to prevent the accident; and said negligence of the city in failing to erect barriers along the bank between it and the river was the proximate cause of appellee’s injuries, uncontributed to by any negligence upon her part.

3. That by reason of the negligence of the city the appellee was damaged in the amount found by the jury.

4. There was no accord and satisfaction of said damages or any part thereof by the city or its authorities.

*447 Conclusions of Law.—The first, second, third, and fourth assignments of error complain of the court’s overruling the general demurrer and special exceptions to appellee’s petition, and the twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh urge that the court should have granted a new trial upon the ground that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict. They will be considered together. When a municipal corporation opens a street and invites public travel, it must be made reasonably safe for such use, and if there is a dangerous place, such as a declivity or excavation, so close to the street or the traveled part thereof as to render it unsafe for travel in the absence of av railing or barrier, the want of such railing or barrier constitutes a defect in the highway itself, for injuries from which the municipality is liable. 15 Am. and Eng. Enc. Law, 2 ed., 555, and authorities cited in note 3; Dill. Mun, Corp., 4 ed., sec. 1017.

The question of the necessity of the barrier is generally one for the jury, as is also that of its sufficiency. 15 Am. and Eng. Enc. Law, 4 ed., 450; Burrill Tp. v. Dncapher, 117 Pa. St., 353, 2 Am. St. Rep., 641. However, corporate authorities are under no obligation to provide for everything that may happen on their streets, but only for such things as ordinarily exist, or such as may reasonably be expected to occur. Dill. Hun. Corp., sec. 1015.

In order to recover for an injury alleged to have resulted from the negligence of another, the injury must be the natural and probable consequence of the negligence; and, as otherwise stated, the wrong and the resulting damage must be known by common experience to be naturally and usually in sequence. The damage, according to the usual course of events, must follow from the wrong. 1 Jag. Torts, 74, and cases cited; Gibson v. Canal Co., 36 Am. St. Rep., 802, 26 Atl. Rep., 70; Mayor, etc., v. Dykes, 31 S. E. Rep., 443. To constitute a negligent act the proximate cause of the injury, it need not be the sole cause; but it is sufficient if it is a concurring cause from which such a result might reasonably have been contemplated. Eads v. City of Marshall, 29 S. W.

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Bluebook (online)
59 S.W. 922, 24 Tex. Civ. App. 444, 1900 Tex. App. LEXIS 212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-san-antonio-v-porter-texapp-1900.