Evers v. Wiggins Ferry Co.

105 S.W. 306, 127 Mo. App. 236, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 490
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 22, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 105 S.W. 306 (Evers v. Wiggins Ferry 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
Evers v. Wiggins Ferry Co., 105 S.W. 306, 127 Mo. App. 236, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 490 (Mo. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

BLAND, P. J.

This is the second appeal .of this case. On the first appeal the judgment was reversed and the cause remanded for error in instructions given in plaintiff’s behalf. [See Evers v. The Wiggins Ferry Co., 116 Mo. App. 130.] The evidence on the second trial, as abstracted, is not materially different from that adduced on the first one, except the medical evidence in respect to the extent and permanency of plaintiff’s injuries. The. facts are fully set forth in the opinion rendered on the first, appeal and will be found at pages 133, 134, 135, 116 Mo. App. On the first trial the jury rendered a verdict for $2,750, and on the second the verdict was for $5,200. Pending a motion for new trial, plaintiff voluntarily filed a remittitur in the sum of $700.

1. The first assignment of error is that the court erred in overruling defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence. On the former appeal we held that plaintiff made out a prima-facie case within the scope of the [239]*239allegations ■ of his petition. We see no good or valid reason to retract our former holding.

2. Plaintiff was a hoy fourteen years of age at the time he was injured. He testified that he paid his fare while on the boiler deck of the boat and was told by the person who collected his fare to go up on the hurricane deck; that he went up on the hurricane deck and was there when it fell and caused his injury. On cross-examination of the captain of the boat, the-fact was developed that passengers were carried on the hurricane deck of excursion boats, by permission of the captain in command, The “Church,” the boat upon which plaintiff was injured, was not an excursion boat, but only a ferryboat. On redirect examination of the captain, defendant’s counsel offered to prove that the hurricane decks of excursion boats were constructed with the view of carrying passengers on them, while the hurricane deck of the ferryboat “Church” was not construct-' ed for that purpose. This evidence was excluded by the court and the ruling is assigned as error. It was contended by defendant that plaintiff and other passengers were on the hurricane deck against the orders of the officers of the boat and remained there after they were repeatedly ordered to go below, and we think the rejected evidence was proper. But inasmuch as the construction of the hurricane deck was fully testified to by defendant’s witnesses, and also that the deck was not designed to carry passengers; that all the passengers on it at the time of the accident were there without the permission of any of the officers of the boat, and also, after having been warned to go below, we cannot see that the excluded evidence prejudiced defendant’s case.

3. W. B. Blackwell and Mrs. Daisy Blackwell, over the objections of defendant, were permitted to testify in rebuttal, that they paid their fare after the boat left the Illinois shore on its return trip to the Missouri shore. The officers of the boat testified that no fares were col[240]*240Iected on the return trip, and some of plaintiff’s witnesses and plaintiff, himself, testified in chief, that they paid their fares on the return trip. The evidence of the Blackwells was out of order, and it is contended that it should have been excluded. It was irregular practice to admit their evidence in rebuttal, but the admission of such evidence is largely Avithin the discretion of the trial court and does not furnish ground for reversal unless such discretion has been improvidently exercised and worked prejudice to the opposing party. It is not apparent that defendant Avas prejudiced by the rebuttal evidence of the Blackwells.

4. The court gave the following instructions for plaintiff:

“1. The jury are instructed that if you find from the evidence that plaintiff was a passenger, lawfully on board defendant’s boat at the time of the accident mentioned in the evidence, and received injuries therefrom, and that said accident consisted in the falling down and giving way of one of the decks of defendant’s boat and that plaintiff’s injuries arose from the said falling down and giving way of the deck of defendant’s said boat, then the burden of proof is shifted upon defendant to show to the satisfaction of the jury that the said falling down of said deck was through no fault, negligence or carelessness of defendant; and unless so shown, you should find for the plaintiff, provided you do not further find from the evidence that plaintiff Avas guilty of negligence in going upon or in remaining upon the hurricane deck, which negligence contributed to the injuries complained of.

“2. The jury are instructed that even though you find from the evidence that some of the passengers were warned not to go upon the top, or hurricane, deck, plaintiff cannot be charged with negligence in going upon said deck unless he heard or Avas aAvare of said warnings, or unless the condition of said top deck, at the time [241]*241plaintiff went thereon, was such as to he apparent to a reasonably careful observer was unsafe, or was not meant for the use of passengers.

“And in considering whether plaintiff should have known that said top deck was unsafe, or not meant for passengers, you may consider all the physical facts regarding the approach to said deck.”

With others, the court gave the following instructions for defendant:

“3. The court instructs the jury that all of the passengers on defendant’s ferryboat, Alonzo C. Church, on the occasion in question were bound to obey all reasonable requests, orders and commands of both the captain and pilot of said ferryboat in reference to their carriage by the defendant on said boat;

“And if the jury believe from the evidence in this case that the roof or hurricane deck of said ferryboat was not intended for carrying passengers and was not a suitable place for the carriage of passengers on said boat, then the captain and pilot of said boat had a right to order the passengers not to go upon or remain upon said roof or hurricane deck, and it was the duty of all passengers in whose hearing such orders and warnings were given, if any, to obey such orders and warnings;

“And if the jury further find from the evidence that before the fall of the portion of the hurricane deck or roof of such ferryboat, a large number of passengers were warned or ordered by the captain or pilot not to go upon the same, and that after a large number of passengers had gone upon said roof or hurricane deck, the captain and pilot, or either of them, ordered, warned or requested the passengers to leave said hurricane deck, or roof and go down below, and that such warnings, or orders, or requests, were heard by a large number of passengers in time for them to have left said hurricane deck and to have avoided the breaking down of said roof or hur[242]

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

Related

Holland v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.
137 S.W. 995 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
105 S.W. 306, 127 Mo. App. 236, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 490, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evers-v-wiggins-ferry-co-moctapp-1907.