Dohring v. Kansas City.

71 S.W.2d 170, 228 Mo. App. 519, 1934 Mo. App. LEXIS 67
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 2, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 71 S.W.2d 170 (Dohring v. Kansas City.) 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
Dohring v. Kansas City., 71 S.W.2d 170, 228 Mo. App. 519, 1934 Mo. App. LEXIS 67 (Mo. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

BLAND, J.

This is a,n action for damages, suffered by plaintiff as the result of the loss of services, and expenses of his wife, who was injured on February 4, 1930, by falling upon an icy sidewalk in Kansas City. There was a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $2000, and defendant has appealed.

The facts show that no written notice of her injury was given to the city by the wife, save that furnished by the filing of a suit by her on February 28, 1930, within ninety days after she fell, and the service of a copy of the petition therein upon the city. Plaintiff herein, at no time, gave any notice of any kind to the city but in order to show compliance, on his part, with Section 7493, Revised Statutes 1929, requiring that notice, under certain circumstances, be given the city, he introduced, over the objection of the defendant, the petition in his wife’s case. It is undisputed that this petition contained all of the essentials of the notice required by the statute, so far as the claim of the wife was concerned. The statute in question reads as follows:

“No action shall be maintained against any city of this State which now has or may hereafter attain a population of one hundred thousand inhabitants, on account of any injuries growing out of any defect in the condition of any bridge, boulevard, street, sidewalk or thoroughfare in said city, until notice shall first have been given in writing to the mayor of said city, within ninety days of the occurrence for which such damages is claimed, stating the place where, the time when such injury was received, and the character and circumstances of the injury, and that the person so injured will claim damages therefor from such city. (Italics ours.)

It is claimed by the defendant that its instruction in the nature of a demurrer to the evidence should have been given for the reason that no notice, such as is required by the statute, or, in fact; any kind, was given by plaintiff. In answer to this contention plaintiff insists that if it were necessary to give the city notice, in order for plaintiff to maintain his action, the notice given by his wife was sufficient. "We are unable to agree with plaintiff’s contention. The rule regarding the requirements of this statute is well stated in Reid v. Kansas City, 195 Mo. App. 457, 460, 461, as follows:

*521 “Notice to tbe city, in substantial compliance with the above statutory requirements, is a condition precedent to the maintenance of the action. . . . Those statutory requirements are (1) that the notice must be in writing (2) it must be given to the mayor, (3) within ninety days from the injury, and it must state with reasonable certainty, (4) the place where (5) the time when such injury was received, (6) the character and circumstances of the injury, and (7) ‘that the person so injured will claim damages therefor from the city.’ And a notice, even if given to the mayor within the ninety days, which fails to state or omits any one of the remaining four requirements, is insufficient.”

In the case at bar the notice furnished by the wife in her petition against the city did not intimate that plaintiff herein would claim damages as a result of the injuries to his wife and it, therefore, did not comply, as far as this plaintiff is concerned, with requirement seven laid down in the Reid ease, even had it, can it be said'to have met the other requirements set forth therein? The petition in the wife’s case not only failed in this respect but it did not even intimate that she was a married woman.

In the case of Hubbard v. Fayette, 70 Me. 121, the husband gave the notice and not the wife, who sued. The court said, l. c. 124:

“It (the notice) does not purport to come from the plaintiff or to he given in her behalf. It does not set forth her claim for damages ; but it sets forth the claim of John Hubbard for damages by reason of the injury to his wife. There is nothing in it giving the municipal officers any notice that the plaintiff made any claim against the town on account of her injuries. Proof that her husband was authorized to-act for her does not aid the notice; because by it he does not purport to act for her and sets forth no claim in her behalf.”

The case of Seliger v. City of New York, 88 N. Y. Supp. 1003, was one by a parent for damages sustained by him in consequence of an accident to his infant son. A claim was filed by or on behalf of the infant son for damages suffered by him. None was filed by the father. The court said, l. c. 1004: “The filing of a claim with the comptroller is to afford him an opportunity to make settlement in behalf of the city, and thus avoid litigation. . . . Unless a notice is filed as to each claim, the purpose of the statute is defeated.” [See, also, City of Birmingham v. Chestnut, 161 Ala. 253, 256; McKeague v. City of Green Bay (Wis.), 82 N. W. 708; Sargent v. Gilford, 66 N. H. 543.] That one of the purposes of the notice is to give the city an opportunity to adjust the claim without litigation is well settled in this State. [See Ogle v. Kansas City, 242 S. W. 115.] How is the city to adjust a claim when none has been made ?

We have examined the cases cited by plaintiff and find them not in point. In the case of Wright v. City of Omaha (Neb.), 110 N. W. 754, the court said, l. c. 755: That the statute requiring the giving of *522 notice “nowhere required that the notice shall state that the party giving the same will claim .damages.” As already pointed out our statute specifically makes such a requirement. In the case of Peek v. Fair Haven & W. R. Co. (Conn.), 58 Atl. 757, cited by the plaintiff, the court said, l. c. 758:

“The section does not provide that the notice-shall contain a statement of the character or amount of the claim of the injured person for damages, nor that a claim for damages is, or is intended to be made; nor is it expressly provided that the notice must be given by the injured person.”

It will thus be seen that the Connecticut statute is worded differently than ours. In Davis v. City of Seattle (Wash.), 79 Pac. 784, the wife was injured but the husband gave no notice, it having been given by her, alone. She afterwards brought suit and, later, the petition was amended to include her husband as a party plaintiff. Under the law of Washington damages resulting from an injury to the wife are community property and the husband is the party authorized to prosecuté the action. The court held that the wife could present a claim on behalf of the community for damages for personal ■injuries sustained by herself. In Missouri the wife’s and the husband’s suit is separate and distinct, they each sue in their own right and there is no privity, even, between them. [Womach v. St. Joseph, 201 Mo. 467.] "We are unable to see any similarity between the Washington case and the one at bar.

However, it is claimed that our statute makes a distinction between an injury done to the person directly receiving it. (that is, injury to absolute rights) and one to relative rights, such as those resulting in. damages to a husband as the consequence of a personal injury to his wife and, therefore, the statute required no notice be given by anyone

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

Related

Henson v. City of Springfield
524 S.W.3d 142 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2017)
Jones v. City of Kansas City
15 S.W.3d 736 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2000)
Bartens v. Mayor of Baltimore
446 A.2d 1136 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1982)
State Ex Rel. County of Shannon v. Chilton
626 S.W.2d 426 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1981)
Quinn v. Graham
428 S.W.2d 178 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1968)
Strohmeyer v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.
396 S.W.2d 1 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1965)
Garrard v. State Department of Public Health & Welfare
375 S.W.2d 582 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1964)
Hamilton Fire Insurance Company v. Cervantes
278 S.W.2d 20 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1955)
Bowman v. City of Davenport
53 N.W.2d 249 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1952)
Wormington v. City of Monett
204 S.W.2d 264 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1947)
Glasgow v. City of St. Joseph
184 S.W.2d 412 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1944)
Fuller v. Edwards
22 S.E.2d 26 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1942)
David v. City of St. Louis
96 S.W.2d 353 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 S.W.2d 170, 228 Mo. App. 519, 1934 Mo. App. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dohring-v-kansas-city-moctapp-1934.