Crone v. St. Louis Oil Co.

158 S.W. 417, 176 Mo. App. 344, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 24
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 5, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 158 S.W. 417 (Crone v. St. Louis Oil 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
Crone v. St. Louis Oil Co., 158 S.W. 417, 176 Mo. App. 344, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 24 (Mo. Ct. App. 1913).

Opinion

ALLEN, J.

This is an action for injuries • sustained by plaintiff by being thrown out of a buggy, by reason of the latter being struck by a tank wagon belonging to the defendant while the horses drawing the same were running away on the public streets of the city of St. Louis. Plaintiff recovered and the defendant prosecutes the appeal.

The petition avers in substance that defendant, a corporation, was engaged in the business of selling and delivering oil in the city of St. Louis; that upon the occasion in question, plaintiff was seated in a buggy which was standing on the west side of Broadway, a public street in said city, at a point about one hundred feet north of Angelica street, another public street in said city; that while plaintiff was so seated in the buggy, a large tank wagon of defendant drawn by two horses, and without any driver in charge thereof, came south upon Broadway at a rapid rate of speed and [346]*346collided with the buggy in which plaintiff was seated, breaking the same and throwing plaintiff violently to the ground, whereby she was injured.

The petition further avers that, prior to the time of said collision, the horses drawing defendant’s said wagon were driven by an agent and servant of defendant to the southeast corner of Eleventh and Penrose streets, public streets in the city of St. Louis, and’ that said agent and servant of defendant in charge thereof “carelessly and negligently allowed said horses to stand at said corner without being fastened and guarded so as to prevent the same from running away, and that, while said horses were standing unfastened and unguarded, either because said horses became frightened, or on account of the fact that said Penrose street at the point at which said horses were standing is steep and not level, by reason of which said wagon started to run down said Penrose street eastwardly toward said Broadway, said horses ran away 'while the same were not in charge or under the control of an agent or servant of the defendant, and while so running away collided with said buggy as aforesaid.”

The petition then alleges that there was in force at said time in the city of St. Louis an ordinance of said city, which provided in part that any person who shall, in said city, leave any animal standing in any public place without being fastened or so guarded as to prevent its running away shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. And it was averred that by reason of the negligence of defendant’s agent and servant “in permitting said horses to stand in said street unfastened and unattended and the failure of the agent and servant of defendant to observe the provisions of said ordinance said horses were caused to run away and collide with the buggy,” occasioning plaintiff’s injuries.

The answer was a general denial.

[347]*347The cause was tried before the court and a jury, resulting in a verdict for plaintiff for $500, and judgment was entered accordingly.

Plaintiff’s evidence shows that the buggy in which she was seated, at the place mentioned in plaintiff’s petition, was struck by a tank wagon belonging to defendant, whereby plaintiff was precipitated to the street. Further testimony on behalf of plaintiff showed that, shortly prior thereto, defendant’s wagon stopped at a grocéry store at the corner of Eleventh and Pen-rose streets; that the driver thereof went into the grocery store, and then he and the owner of the store went to an oil tank on Eleventh street, some fifty feet south of the entrance to the grocery store. The owner of the latter, one Shroeder, 'testified that the wagon was at the time standing close to the curb on Penrose street, the horses facing east towards Broadway. The witness saw no one with the horses, but did not know whether they were tied or in any way fastened, or not. The witness and the driver were at the oil tank about five minutes, and when they returned the wagon was gone. This was the only witness- who saw the team prior to the time they were running away.

There was evidence that the horses attached to the wagon ran east on Penrose street from Eleventh street to Broadway, a distance of about three hundred feet, down a heavy grade, turning south on Broadway and continuing until the collision with the buggy in which plaintiff was seated. It seems that after the collision the horses stopped and stood perfectly quiet, and one witness who saw them at this time stated that there was “nothing tied to the horses.”

The ordinance in question was admitted in evidence, over objections of defendant which need not be noticed.

Defendant introduced no evidence, but at the close of plaintiff’s case prayed the court to give an in[348]*348struction in -the nature of a demurrer to the evidence, which was refused.

Plaintiff requested the court to give an instruction to the effect that if the jury found from the evidence that plaintiff was seated in the buggy at the time and place mentioned in the evidence, and that at said time defendant’s tank wagon collided therewith and threw plaintiff to the ground, and that at the time of the collision the horses attached to the tank wagon' were running away, and that said horses prior to the time that they ran away were left standing on Penrose street at or near Eleventh street by defendant or its servant, “without being fastened or guarded to prevent their running away,” then plaintiff is entitled to recover. The court refused to give this instruction as offered, but modified it by strildng out the words which we have italicized above, and gave the instruction with nothing therein requiring the jury to find that the horses were not fastened or guarded to prevent their running away.

The only other instruction for plaintiff was one on the measure of damages, and this and the instructions given for defendant need not be noticed.

It will be readily seen that plaintiff’s cause of action, as alleged in her petition and attempted to be proved, is bottomed upon the alleged fact which it' is said constituted a violation of the ordinance. It proceeds upon the theory that defendant, through its agent and servant, was guilty of a breach of this ordinance in leaving the horses standing at Eleventh and Pen-rose streets without being fastened or guarded to prevent their running away; and plaintiff specifically pleads this fact as constituting the negligence of the agent and servant of defendant. And it is averred “that by reason of the negligence and carelessness of the agent and servant of defendant in permitting said horses to stand in said street unfastened and unattended, and the failure of the agent and servant of de[349]*349fendant to observe the provisions of said ordinance of said city, said horses were caused to run away and collide with the buggy, ’ ’ etc. It is clear* therefore, that plaintiff must recover, if at all, upon the specific negligence alleged, and which plaintiff avers caused her injuries. We repeat what we said in Israel v. United Railways Co., 172 Mo. App. 656, decided at this term:

“It is a well settled doctrine that where specific acts of negligence are alleged in a petition, plaintiff can recover only upon proof of the specific negligence charged. [McGrath v. Transit Co., 197 Mo. 97, 94 S. W. 872; Roscoe v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co., 202 Mo. 576, 101 S. W. 32; Orcutt v. Century Building Co., 201 Mo. 424, 99 S. W. 1062; Evans v. Railroad, 222 Mo. 435, 121 S. W. 36; Gibler v. Railroad, 148 Mo. App. 475, 128 S. W. 791; Beave v. Transit Co., 212 Mo. 331, 111 S. W. 52.]”

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Bluebook (online)
158 S.W. 417, 176 Mo. App. 344, 1913 Mo. App. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crone-v-st-louis-oil-co-moctapp-1913.