Gardner v. Metropolitan Street Ry. Co.

152 S.W. 98, 167 Mo. App. 605, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 692
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 25, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 152 S.W. 98 (Gardner v. Metropolitan Street Ry. 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
Gardner v. Metropolitan Street Ry. Co., 152 S.W. 98, 167 Mo. App. 605, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 692 (Mo. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

BROADDUS, P. J.

This is an action instituted by the plaintiff to recover damages growing out of injuries she received while alighting from an east bound electric street car on 19th street in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 31, 1909.

[608]*608The plaintiff was a passenger and her statement of the occurrence is that her destination was the intersection of 19th street and Park avenue, next east of Brooklyn avenue; that after the car passed Brooklyn avenue, she signaled for it to stop, but that it did not stop but proceeded without slackening its speed; that as it was passing Park avenue, she again signaled for the car to stop and arose from her seat and started to walk to the rear platform in order to alight when it did stop; that the motorman met her on the way and she told him she wanted to get off and he said, “all right;” that she continued on her way to the rear platform, during which time the car came to a stop midway between Park'avenue and Olive street, tne street next east; that just as she was in the act of preparing to step down, the conductor rang the bell and the car started ahead with a jerk and threw her to the pavement of the street, inflicting upon her person severe injuries. As to the place of the stoppage of the car and the manner of her injury, the plaintiff is corroborated by another witness, a traveling salesman, who was on the car at the time. Her evidence tends to show that she sustained a fracture at the base of the skull; that her face was scratched, her left hand bruised; one of her teeth was knocked out; her left ear drum ruptured; her back and spine bruised and wrenched; that she received a severe shock to her nervous system and that the injury caused a retroversion of her womb; and that she suffered in various ways as the result of her injuries.

The defendant’s evidence is also to the effect that plaintiff fell from the car about midway between the two streets, but it was to the effect that the car did not stop or slacken its speed and that plaintiff stepped off while it was in motion. The tendency of defendant’s evidence was to greatly minimize the extent of plaintiff’s injuries.

[609]*609The petition charges that the accident occurred near the intersection of 19th and Olive streets. The answer of defendant was a general denial and a plea of contributory negligence. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff for $2000. From the judgment, defendant appealed.

The alleged errors are, that the plaintiff was guilty of misconduct in selecting the jury to try the case, that is, in asking improper questions as to their competency-, and that the court in passing upon the competency of certain of the jurors in the panel, used language calculated to create a prejudice in the minds of the jury against the defendant. 2d. That the court committed error in not sustaining defendant’s demurrer to the case as made out under plaintiff’s petition and evidence. 3d. That instructions Nos. 1, 2 and 4, given at the instance of plaintiff, were erroneous. 4th. That the verdict is excessive and against the weight of the evidence. 5th. That the court erred in not granting defendant a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence material to the issue. 6th. That the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury as requested in instruction No. 1.

The plaintiff sought to challenge the competency of three members of the panel of jurors for cause, viz.: Bird, "Wilson and Munden. The ground for their alleged disqualification was that they were working for the Armour Packing Company. Bird disqualified himself by saying that he did not think he would make a good juror. Wilson and Munden were excused by the court on the ground that they were working for the Armour Packing Company. There was no exception to the language used by the court and no reference made to it in the motion for a new trial, therefore, it is not a matter to be considered. There, was no evidence that the Armour Packing Company had any interest in the controversy, but the juror, Munden, stated [610]*610substantially that if such was the case, the least little thing might change his opinion. The only allusion to the matter in defendant’s motion for a new trial is as follows: “Because the court erred in permitting counsel for plaintiff, over the objection of the defendant, in selecting the jury to ask generally and repeatedly if any members thereof (the jury) were employees of the Armour Packing Company, and if so, if such fact would embarrass them in returning a verdict in the case. ” It is not to the action of the court in wrongfully excusing the jurors named from service in the case that defendant complains, but merely to improper questions propounded to them. It seems that defendant was satisfied with the jury that was selected to try the case. It was, therefore, a matter of no consequence whether the questions propounded to the three jurors, who were excused, were or were not improper, as it is no where alleged that defendant was prejudiced thereby. It is, however, proper to say that the course pursued by the plaintiff’s counsel was highly reprehensible and should not be tolerated.

We can see no good reason for the contention that the court should have sustained a demurrer to the plaintiff’s case. It is true the petition alleges that the accident occurred near the intersection of 19th and Olive streets, whereas it occurred about midway between Olive street and Park avenue. The exact location of the occurrence was not necessary as it appears that defendant was sufficiently informed as to that matter. It produced at the trial its employees in charge of the car at the time and other persons who were present, all of whom knew that plaintiff had by some means been thrown from the car to the street and injured at a point midway between the two streets named. It is contended that there was no evidence going to show that the employees of defendant had any knowledge that plaintiff intended to get off in the middle of the block. But this is a misconception of the evidence. [611]*611Plaintiff, according to her testimony, notified the conductor that she wanted to get off, after signaling the car to stop, and that the car did stop, and that she was thrown down just as she was in the act of getting off. It is true she did not say she wanted to get off in the middle of the block, but if the car stopped upon her signal and at her request to the conductor that she wanted to get off, she was justified in acting upon the supposition that she was at liberty to alight when the car did stop, notwithstanding it was in the middle of the block.

The objection to instruction No. 1, given for plaintiff is that it singles out and emphasizes particular portions of her own testimony; and that it authorizes the jury to find facts not supported by the evidence, and assumes facts not in issue; and that it is ambiguous, confusing and misleading. It is not true that the instruction singles out and emphasizes particular portions of plaintiff’s testimony, but it does call the attention of the jury as to what particular facts they must find in order to find for the plaintiff. This was proper. And there is not the slightest room for the contention that it assumes the existence of a single fact, but on the contrary, the jury are specifically charged that they must find the existence of such facts. And it is not true that the instruction is the least ambiguous, but it is clear and explicit and not in any manner the subject of misconstruction. ■

Instruction No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
152 S.W. 98, 167 Mo. App. 605, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 692, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gardner-v-metropolitan-street-ry-co-moctapp-1912.