Emerson v. Butte Electric Ry. Co.

129 P. 319, 46 Mont. 454, 1912 Mont. LEXIS 142
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 7, 1912
DocketNo. 3,195
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 129 P. 319 (Emerson v. Butte Electric Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Emerson v. Butte Electric Ry. Co., 129 P. 319, 46 Mont. 454, 1912 Mont. LEXIS 142 (Mo. 1912).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE SMITH

delivered the opinion of the court.

This action was commenced on May 18, 1911, by the plaintiff, Emerson, against the Butte Electric Railway Company, a corporation, and J. R. Wharton, defendants, to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered on the 9th day of May, 1911, while plaintiff was traveling on one of the cars of the defendant company as a passenger. The complaint alleges that the car upon which plaintiff was riding was derailed by reason of the carelessness and negligence of the defendant company and Wharton, its superintendent, and that by reason [458]*458of such derailment plaintiff was thrown about the ear, at and against various objects and persons, and injured in his spine and back, in his hip-bones, in his right side, his lumbar sacral regions, his head and various other parts of his body. He was thirty years of age, capable of earning $3.50 per day, and it is alleged that he is suffering from traumatic neurasthenia and is permanently injured. Defendants filed a general demurrer to the complaint, which was overruled. They then jointly answered admitting the car was derailed and plaintiff “was thrown about somewhat but not with great or serious force or any violence.” Substantially all other allegations were denied. The court granted a motion for a nonsuit as to the defendant Wharton. The trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff and against the defendant corporation for $2,750. From a judgment on the verdict and a motion denying a new trial, plaintiff appeals.

1. Plaintiff having been a passenger, the complaint is sufficient under the rule laid down in Pierce v. Great Falls & C. Ry. Co., [1] 22 Mont. 445, 56 Pac. 867, Hoskins v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 39 Mont. 394, 102 Pac. 988, Knuckey v. Butte El. Ry. Co., 41 Mont. 314, 109 Pac. 979, and John v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 42 Mont. 18, 111 Pac. 632. A presumption of negligence on the part of the carrier arises from the mere happening of an accident resulting in injury to a passenger, which is caused by some agency over which the carrier has control.

2. There was no misjoinder of parties' defendant. (Knuckey [2] v. Butte El. Ry. Co., supra.)

3. It was competent to show how many people were on the ear [3] and where they were situated, not as an attempt to prove a different ground of negligence from that stated in the complaint, but as part of the res gestae, illustrating the situation of the plaintiff.’

4. Dr. Horst, a witness for the defendant, had testified in [4] chief, in answer to a hypothetical question, that he did not think the plaintiff could have been permanently injured. Counsel for the plaintiff on cross-examination, evidently reading from a medical work entitled “Accident and Injury” by Bailey, asked: “Well, this author states a case as follows: [Then fol[459]*459lowed a narrative of the case of a woman who was in a street-car accident, giving her symptoms, etc., described as “the customary neurasthenic symptoms,” and concluding with the statement that she became worse rather than better after a settlement with the street-car company]. Do you agree with that statement as a case of traumatic neurasthenia?” The answer (over objection) was: “It is not a typical case, because we start in with a sick woman. She was a neurotic woman. This is not a typical case. ” It is now contended that the court erred in allowing the question. We do not think so. At least we do not think the court abused its discretion. This court in State v. Penna, 35 Mont. 535, 90 Pae. 787, by Mr. Chief Justice Brantly, held, in effect, that counsel might properly incorporate into a question a quotation from a standard work on medical jurisprudence, for the purpose of asking a witness whether he agreed with the statement embodied in it as correct.

5. It was contended, in argument before the bar of this court, that the case of May v. Northern Pac. Ry. Co., 32 Mont. 522, 4 Ann. Cas. 605, 70 L. R. A. 111, 81 Pac. 328, should be disapproved and overruled. In that case it was held that in an action for personal injuries the district court, in the absence of legislation, might not compel the plaintiff to submit to a physical examination by physicians or surgeons appointed by the court. However, as no request for such examination was made in this case, the question is not before us.

6. It is also claimed that the defendant by its evidence overcame the presumption of negligence raised by the derailment of the car. We cannot agree with this. While much of [5] defendant’s evidence was uncontradieted, the jury were not obliged to credit it or give it the weight contended for by counsel. It was still for them to decide whether the charge of negligence was substantiated.

7. It is also contended that the evidence fails to support the verdict. Plaintiff testified: “This particular car that I took was crowded. I did not get a seat. The first thing I knew the car was off the track. I noticed it was off because I was thrown from one side of the car to the other, I was not the only person [460]*460standing. 'The car was full. Everybody went down as far as .1 could see, on the first bump of the car. I went down. ' I was first thrown to the right. The seats of the car were facing each other and the sides of both seats were full. As I was thrown forward I landed right close to my hip-bone, touching the point of my hip-bone on a gentleman’s knee. I fell on a gentleman’s knee with my body. This fall was violent. As I fell the car still bumped up and down. The next motion was that I was thrown on the other side with my back against the side of the seat. The position that I was thrown to then was that I went to the floor. The car bumped considerable as it went along there. I was still lying on the floor when they came to pick me up. I got to the hospital by them calling for a taxi-cab. "When I got down to the hospital the doctor examined me, I guess it was Dr. Kistler. After I was examined at the hospital they called for a cab to send me to my room. When I got there I went to bed. I was suffering with pain in my side and the point of my hip-bone. I will say that my back was bothering me and also my right knee. When I went to bed there I was not able to sleep. I got a hot-water bottle and used to put it on my side and on my back. I kept on with that treatment for at least two weeks. I stayed all night in my room on that same night. I went back to the hospital every day. I was taken back to the hospital from my room about 10 o ’clock that nighf. My side was bothering me and I called for the doctor to come down and he suggested that I go back to the hospital. I stayed at the hospital until 4 or 5 o ’clock the next day. I then came back to my room. T-hey didn’t give me anything in the way of treatment at the hospital, but whenT got back to my room they ordered electric treatment. After I went back to my room I again went to the hospital to consult a doctor. I did that until between the 17th and 18th. It was something like eight or nine days that I went to the hospital. Went back to work on the 23d of May. The only treatment I received was electric treatment, consisting of sitting in an electric chair for ten or twelve minutes and sometimes longer, which was ordered by Dr.’ Kistler. I suppose it was the street-car company that sent me to the hospital and [461]

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

Related

Simons v. Jennings
46 P.2d 704 (Montana Supreme Court, 1935)
Maki v. Murray Hospital
7 P.2d 228 (Montana Supreme Court, 1932)
Heck v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co.
196 P. 521 (Montana Supreme Court, 1921)
Schumacher v. Murray Hospital
193 P. 397 (Montana Supreme Court, 1920)
Knop v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. Co.
187 P. 1020 (Montana Supreme Court, 1920)
State v. Nielsen
187 P. 639 (Montana Supreme Court, 1920)
Southern Pacific Co. v. Nelson
180 P. 987 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1919)
Johnson v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. Co.
155 P. 971 (Montana Supreme Court, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
129 P. 319, 46 Mont. 454, 1912 Mont. LEXIS 142, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/emerson-v-butte-electric-ry-co-mont-1912.