Goodman v. Queen City Lines, Inc.

180 S.E. 661, 208 N.C. 323, 1935 N.C. LEXIS 400

• Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decided: June 26, 1935
• Status: Published

Opinion

Stacy, 0. J.

It is not perceived upon what theory the defendants Atlantic Greyhound Lines of North Carolina, Inc., Eagle Bus Lines, lnc., and W. M. Shelton, trading as The Eed Top Bus Lines, can be held liable for plaintiff’s injuries. These lines were not lessees of the station in which she was injured, nor was the plaintiff a passenger on any of them, either actual or prospective. She did not intend to become such. The demurrer to the evidence, interposed by these defendants, should have been sustained.

The defendants Camel City Coach Company, Skyland Stages, Inc., and Queen City Coach Company were lessees of the building in which plaintiff was injured. As to them, the plaintiff was a permissive licensee. Quantz v. R. R., 137 N. C., 136; Railway v. Thompson, 77 Ala., 448; Union Depot, etc., R. Co. v. Londoner, 50 Colo., 22, 114 Pac., 316, 33 L. R. A. (N. S.), 433. She was not, and did not intend to become, a passenger on any of these lines. So far as they were concerned, the plaintiff entered the station for her own convenience. Peterson v. R. R., 143 N. C., 260, 55 S. E., 618, 8 L. R. A. (N. S.), 1240, 118 Am. St. Rep., 799. In Louisville, etc., Ry. Co. v. Treadway, 142 lnd., 475, 40 N. E., 807, it was held (as stated in 3d headnote, which accurately digests the opinion) : “Where intersecting railroads use a common depot, and a person at the depot at night, for the purpose of taking passage on one of the roads, is injured on account of the failure to properly light the platform, the other road, which ran no trains during the night, is not liable for the injuries.”

The case of Peters v. Detroit, etc., R. Co., 178 Mich., 481, cited and relied upon by plaintiff, is not authority for the position taken. The point for wbicb the ease is cited is expressly not decided, as witness the following: “Whether, if plaintiff’s business there had been with the Pere Marquette Railroad Company only, the Detroit and Mackinac Railway Company would have owed him a duty is a question not presented.”

There is no evidence of any wilful or wanton negligence on the part of the lessees of the premises. Hence, the demurrer to the evidence, interposed by these defendants, should have been sustained. Monroe v. R. R., 151 N. C., 374, 66 S. E., 315; Gibbs v. R. R., 200 N. C., 49, 156 S. E., 138.

With respect to the Queen City Lines, Inc., the plaintiff did not lose her status as a passenger by temporarily alighting at an intermediate station, for the purpose stated, with the express or implied consent of the carrier. 10 C. J., 628. It has been held that the duty to furnish reasonably safe platforms and the like does not apply to a passenger who leaves a train at an intermediate station. 10 C. J., 923. It is otherwise, however, where the passenger, as in the instant case, does so at the express or implied invitation of the carrier. Mangum v. R. R., 145 N. C., 152, 58 S. E., 913, 13 L. R. A. (N. S.), 589, 122 Am. St. Rep., 437; Pineus v. R. R., 140 N. C., 450, 53 S. E., 297.

The demurrer to the evidence was properly overruled as to the Queen City Lines, Inc. Dean v. Yelloway Pioneer System, 259 Ill. App., 180; Sanchez v. Pacific Auto Stages, 2 Pac. (2d) (Cal.), 845.

It follows, therefore, that the judgment must be affirmed as to the Queen City Lines, Inc., and reversed as to the other defendants.

On appeal, Queen City Lines, Inc.,

No error.

On appeal, other defendants,

Reversed.