Cramer v. Springfield Traction Co.

87 S.W. 24, 112 Mo. App. 350, 1905 Mo. App. LEXIS 134
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 2, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 87 S.W. 24 (Cramer v. Springfield Traction 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
Cramer v. Springfield Traction Co., 87 S.W. 24, 112 Mo. App. 350, 1905 Mo. App. LEXIS 134 (Mo. Ct. App. 1905).

Opinion

BLAND, P. J.

(after stating the facts). —1. Defendant malíes the point, that the facts stated in the petition are repugnant and if the word ‘willfully’ is to' be rejected, in passing upon the sufficiency of the petition to support the judgment, then there is no issue of negligence pleaded. A petition alleging both willfulness and negligence as grounds for recovery, in Raming v. Railway, 157 Mo. l. c. 508, 57 S. W. 268, was characterized by Judge Sherwood as a felá de se. An act cannot be both careless and willful. Negligence is an unintentional act or omission. Willfulness is intentional, an act pur[359]*359posely done, not negligently or carelessly done or left undone, hence, as held by Judge Sherwood in the Raining case, evidence to prove negligence would negative willfullness and vice versa. But there was no evidence offered on the trial proving or tending to prove willfulness and the case was tried by both parties on the theory that plaintiffs injuries were caused by the negligence of the motorman in starting the car while she was in the act of alighting therefrom, therefore, we must do as the parties did on the trial, ignore the charge of willfulness, treat it as mere surplusage and look to the petition, with the word “willfully” eliminated, allegations to support the theory of negligence. [Knox County v. Goggin, 105 Mo. 183, 16 S. W. 684.] The rule of practice in such circumstances is thus stated by Robinson, J., in Gannon v. Gas Co., 145 Mo. l. c. 511: “It must be borne in mind, that it has likewise been a rule of long practice, and frequently asserted in this court, based upon the plainest principle of propriety and fairness, that a party will not be driven out of court merely from the fact that he or she has alleged more than has been proven, when the unproven allegations are shown to be unnecessary averments to authorize a recovery; nor will plaintiff’s action be denied merely because the testimony offered does not support certain averments in his or her petition when it does support other averments which are sufficient to authorize a recovery.” The same ruling is announced in Koopman v. Cahoon, 47 Mo. App. 357; Walker Bros. v. Railway, 68 Mo. App. 465, and in numerous other cases to be found in the Missouri reports.

Another salutary rule of practice, applicable here, is that parties are bound by the theory which they adopt on the trial of the case, and when they treat an issue as properly before the court, an objection, that such issue was not within the allegations of the petition, is waived. [Thorp v. Railway, 89 Mo. 650, 2 S. W. 3; Hilz v. Rail[360]*360way, 101 Mo. 36, 13 S. W. 946; Johnson-Brinkman Co. v. Bank, 116 Mo. l. c. 567, 22 S. W. 813; Barnard State Bank v. Fesler, 89 Mo. App. 216; Stalzer v. Dold Packing Co., 84 Mo. App. 573; Hackett v. Philadelphia Underwriters, 79 Mo. App. 16.] Bnt if the word “willfully” is eliminated from the petition, then there would be left this allegation of negligence: “That as she (plaintiff) was just alighting from said car, the motorman negligently and carelessly turned on the current of electricity, thereby causing said car to jerk instantly and start at a rapid rate of speed. Said jerk so sudden that it caused plaintiff to fall from the step of said car on to the brick pavement, injuring her as follows.” This statement is a specific allegation of negligence, provided there are other allegations in the petition showing that it was the motorman’s duty to hold the car a sufficient length of time to enable plaintiff to get off, or that the evidence shows he knew or could have known, by the exercise of due diligence, that she was in the act of alighting when he started the car. It is contended by defendant that neither of these facts are alleged or shown by the evidence) and for this reason plaintiff should have been nonsuited. The petition does not allege that plaintiff informed the motorman of her intention to get off the car at the junction nor is there any direct evidence that the motorman was apprised of her intention to' leave the car at that point, but the evidence conclusively shows that plaintiff got a transfer from the motorman and that passengers sometimes boarded the Springfield avenue cars at that point; and the motorman testified that passengers got on and off defendant’s cars at the junction, and he also testified that before starting his car he looked around the side of the car'to see if anyone was getting off or on.

From these facts in evidence, we think it clearly appears that it was the duty of the motorman to exercise due care to see that all passengers disembarking were safely on the street before he started his car, and that [361]*361this duty was not discharged by merely waiting a sufficient length of time for a passenger to get off, for plaintiff’s relation to defendant was that of a passenger until she was safely off the car and its agents and employees were bound to exercise the utmost care in discharging her from the car. [O’Brien v. St. Louis Transit Co., — Mo. —, 84 S. W. 939; Fillingham v. St. Louis Transit Co., 102 Mo. App. 573, 77 S. W. 314; Lehner v. Railway, — Mo. —, 85 S. W. 110; Richmond Street Railway Co. v. Scott, 86 Va. 902.]

We think from what is stated in the petition in respect to the negligence of the motorman and other facts, the inference is fairly deducible that the' motorman knew, or by the exercise of due care could have known, that plaintiff was leaving the car when he turned the power on to move the car forward. We also think that plaintiff’s evidence made ont a prima facie case and that, notwithstanding the seeming preponderance of the evidence as a whole was on the side of the defendant, the case was one for the jury and that defendant’s instruction that plaintiff could not recover was properly denied.'

2. The instruction given for plaintiff is attacked as erroneous for the following reasons:

“First. . It entirely ignores every constituent element upon which liability of a carrier of passengers is predicated.
“Second. No issue of knowledge on part of defendant’s servant is submitted.
“Third. No issue as to whether car stopped a reasonable time is submitted.
“Fourth. The very issue of the case is assumed and the jury virtually told that the mere fact of an accident justified a verdict for plaintiff. Nor was this feature cured by instruction numbered 4.
“Fifth. It was not the duty of the defendant to use the greatest care to see that she was safely alighted, unless defendant knew or had reasonable grounds to believe she intended and was attempting to alight.
[362]*362“Nor was it the duty of the defendant’s motorman to observe her conduct just because the car was standing still and just because she was approaching the rear of the car or about to get off, unless he did in fact observe her action or knew she was about to get off, etc. This knowledge, the basic fact of liability, is entirely omitted in the instruction.
“So it is not the law, that if he started the car while she was in the act of alighting the defendant is responsible. This declaration also ignores entirely the question of knowledge of the motorman.” ■

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
87 S.W. 24, 112 Mo. App. 350, 1905 Mo. App. LEXIS 134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cramer-v-springfield-traction-co-moctapp-1905.