Franklin Printing & Publishing Co. v. Behrens

80 Ill. App. 313, 1898 Ill. App. LEXIS 421
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 16, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 80 Ill. App. 313 (Franklin Printing & Publishing Co. v. Behrens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Franklin Printing & Publishing Co. v. Behrens, 80 Ill. App. 313, 1898 Ill. App. LEXIS 421 (Ill. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Adams

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellee was plaintiff, and appellant defendant, in the trial- court. The declaration contains two counts, in the first of which the averments are, in substance, as follows:

Defendant was the owner of the building numbered 341-351 Dearborn street, in the city of Chicago, and rented the several floors thereof to sundry persons for their business purposes. Defendant maintained in the building an elevator and operated the same by its servants between the several floors of the building, for the conveyance of such persons from any one of said floors to another. Plaintiff, February 25, 1895, while in the exercise of due care and caution for her safety, presented herself at the entrance to the elevator on the sixth floor to be carried thereon to the main floor, and was received into the elevator.

“Nevertheless the said defendant company, regardless of its duty in the premises, negligently, carelessly and improperly entrusted the management of said elevator to a careless and incompetent servant, and the said defendant company by its servants so carelessly, negligently and improperly controlled and operated said elevator, that by and through such carelessness, negligence and improper conduct, said elevator, just as it reached the said main floor and the door was opened for the plaintiff to step from said elevator on said main floor and was in the act of making her exit, was started upward, and before the plaintiff could safely make her exit; that by means of the sudden starting of the said elevator upward the said plaintiff was caught and crushed in the opening of said elevator, and crushed against the top crosspiece of the said elevator being at said main floor; and by means whereof the said plaintiff was then and there greatly bruised, wounded and lacerated, and sustained permanent and lasting injuries to her neck, jaw and spine, and her nervous system was greatly shocked, and her upper teeth knocked out, and the plaintiff was otherwise greatly bruised, wounded and injured, and also by means of the premises, the plaintiff became sick, sore, lame and disordered, and so remained and continued for a long space of time, to wit, from thence hitherto,” etc.

The second count, after averring appellant’s ownership of the building and the maintenance and operation of the elevator, and the receiving of the plaintiff therein at the sixth floor, substantially as in the first count, contains the following :

“And immediately thereupon, when said defendant company undertook to transport or lower the said plaintiff from said upper floor of their said building, the said elevator or hoist by reason of the broken, insecure and insufficient machinery by which the same was run, and by reason of the careless and negligent conduct of the defendant company in the care of the machinery, and in the running and operating of the same, and in the running and operating of the said elevator or hoist, without any fault or negligence on plaintiff’s part whatsoever, the said elevator or hoist upon reaching the said street floor, and while the door of said street door shutting in said elevator was opened for plaintiff’s egress and she was in the act of making her exit with all due care and caution, said elevator or hoist, without any warning to the plain ti fl, suddenly started and shot upward, by means whereof the plaintiff was caught in the opening of said elevator or hoist, and with great violence crushed and struck against the upper casing of the doorway upon said street floor, and was knocked down and her face and head jammed between the floor of said elevator and the said casing, or cross-piece, and the plaintiff was thereby greatly bruised,” etc. It is further averred in this count: “ That the plaintiff at the time aforesaid, had no notice or knowledge that the machinery whereby the elevator or hoist was run or operated was out of order, or broken, or insecure, or that the elevator was operated or run by an insufficient, incompetent, careless and negligent servant, and the defendant company had full notice and knowledge thereof,” etc.

Appellant pleaded the general issue, the jury found appellant guilty and assessed appellee’s damages at the sum of $15,000; appellant’s motion for a new trial and in arrest of judgment was overruled, and judgment was entered on the verdict.

Appellant’s counsel, in their argument, object that there was a fatal variance between the allegations and the evidence, and that the plaintiff’s evidence failed to show that the machinery by which the elevator was operated was insufficient or unsafe, or that the servant of appellant, who was operating the elevator at the time of the accident, was incompetent; that the preponderance of the evidence is that the machinery was sufficient and the operator competent; that certain evidence of injuries to the appellee was improperly admitted, because not alleged in the declaration; that the damages are excessive, and that the court erred in not taking the case from the jury a,t the close of plaintiff’s evidence, and, again, at the close of all the evidence.

At the conclusion of appellee’s case in chief, counsel for appellant moved the court to exclude from the consideration of the jury the first count of the declaration, because-of an alleged variance between the count and the evidence, alleging as reasons therefor, that the only place in which it was alleged that the plaintiff was in the exercise of due care, was at the time she presented herself at the entrance to the elevator on the sixth floor; that there was no proof that the elevator was entrusted to a careless and incompetent servant; or that it was carelessly operated; or that it was started upward as appellee was in the act of making her exit; or that she was crushed against the top cross-piece of the elevator. The first of the reasons assigned for the motion goes to the. sufficiency of the declaration, the remainder to the sufficiency of the proof. The question of variance between allegations and proof is not raised by any reason assigned for the motion, nor does any such variance appear in the record. Counsel base their objection on section 50 of the practice act, namely: “ If one or more of the counts of a declaration be faulty, the defendant may apply to the court to instruct the jury to disregard such faulty count or counts,” and say their understanding of the section is, that if there is no evidence to sustain a count, the court, on motion, may instruct the jury not to consider it. This is a misunderstanding of the section. A faulty count, within the meaning of the section, is one which does not contain allegations which, even if proved, would sustain a verdict or judgment. We do not think the declaration was materially defective in omitting to aver that the appellee was exercising ordinary care at the exact instant of receiving the injuries complained of. The motion was expressly made on the ground of variance; the reasons assigned show no variance, and the motion was property overruled.

Counsel also moved to exclude the second count from the consideration of the jury, on the ground that none of the plaintiff’s evidence tended to sustain it. Counsel predicated the motion on the proposition that the entire gist of the count was that the machinery of the elevator was defective, insecure and insufficient. We agree with the trial court in-dissenting from this proposition. The cause of the accident is averred in the second count thus :

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Bluebook (online)
80 Ill. App. 313, 1898 Ill. App. LEXIS 421, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/franklin-printing-publishing-co-v-behrens-illappct-1899.