Heger v. Trustees of Indiana University

526 N.E.2d 1041, 1988 Ind. App. LEXIS 572, 1988 WL 83218
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 11, 1988
Docket28A01-8801-CV-13
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 526 N.E.2d 1041 (Heger v. Trustees of Indiana University) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Heger v. Trustees of Indiana University, 526 N.E.2d 1041, 1988 Ind. App. LEXIS 572, 1988 WL 83218 (Ind. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

RATLIFF, Chief Judge.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Christina Heger and Martin L. Heger appeal from the granting of summary judgment in favor of the Trustees of Indiana University (University) in their action seeking damages for Christina's injuries received when she was struck by an automobile after alighting from the University's bus. We affirm.

FACTS

On September 24, 1985, Christina was a freshman student at Indiana University in Bloomington. On that date, she boarded the University's bus which was stopped at a bus stop on Rose Avenue across from her dormitory. After boarding, she inquired of the bus driver as to how long the bus would remain at the bus stop because she wanted to return to her room to retrieve something she had left behind. She then exited the rear door of the bus in obedience to a sign in the bus directing passengers to "exit at rear door, don't cross in front of the bus." 1 After alighting from the bus, Christina stepped across the curb onto the grass and walked to the rear of the bus. She then walked into the street along the rear of the bus on her way across the street to her dormitory, and as she stepped from behind the bus into the street she was struck by an automobile driven by one Irving Kagan and received the injuries of which she complains.

Christina and Martin L. Heger, her father, sued Kagan and University claiming Kagan was negligent in the operation of his vehicle and that University was negligent in not providing her a safe place to alight from the bus. Summary judgment was granted in favor of University.

ISSUE

The sole issue dispositive of this appeal is whether University was negligent in failing to fulfill its duty to provide Christina He-ger with a safe place to alight from the bus which proximately caused her injuries. 2

DISCUSSION AND DECISION

Under Indiana law, a common carrier is bound to exercise reasonable and ordinary care, under all the circumstances, for the safety of its passengers. Swallow Coach Lines v. Cosgrove (1938), 214 Ind. 532, 15 N.E.2d 92; Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Co. v. Scott (1926), 197 Ind. 587, 150 N.E. 777; Hudnut v. Indiana Deluxe Cab Co. (1932), 98 Ind.App. 44, 182 N.E. 711, trans. denied. See also, Ember v. B.F.D., Inc. (1986), Ind. App., 490 N.E.2d 764 (not a common carrier case but stating that among familiar rela *1043 tionships imposing a duty of reasonable care are those of common carriers to passengers). 3 This duty includes the duty of exercising reasonable care in furnishing passengers with a reasonably safe place for them to alight. 4 I.L.E. Carriers § 55 (1958); 14 Am.Jur.2d Carriers § 984. On the other hand, a carrier generally is not liable for injuries received by a passenger who is struck by another vehicle after safe ly alighting from the carrier. Terre Haute, Indianapolis and Eastern Traction Co. v. Evans (1928), 87 Ind.App. 324, 161 N.E. 671; Cooke v. Elk Coach Line (1935), 37 Del. 120, 180 A. 782; Sanford v. Bi-State Dev. Agency (1986), Mo.App., 705 S.W.2d 572; Johnson v. Cravens (1984), 16 Ohio App.3d 378, 476 N.E.2d 1073. Examination of these cases compels our affirmance of the summary judgment in favor of University.

In Evans, the passenger alighted from the traction car and was struck and killed by a speeding automobile traveling on the wrong side of the street. The appellate court reversed a judgment for the passenger holding the trial court erred in overruling the carrier's demurrer. The court stated:

"It appears from the complaint that the street car was stopped by the motorman at the request of [the passenger] at a place where it was customary to discharge passengers. There was no averment in the complaint, and there was no contention at trial, that there was any defect in the street pavement at that point....
"The general rule, supported by the great weight of authority, is that a street railway company owes no duty to warn or protect passengers, while leaving the car, from obvious dangers arising from automobiles which are being operated on the street."

Evans, 87 Ind.App. at 327, 329, 161 N.E. at 672. The court noted that the passenger was able-bodied and in full possession of his faculties. 4

In Cooke, the plaintiff was discharged from the bus onto a sidewalk across the street from the bus station. As plaintiff crossed the street, she was struck by a passing car. The court sustained the bus company's demurrer stating:

"It is the duty of the operator of a motor bus to exercise reasonable care to see that the place selected for the discharge of passengers is safe for that purpose. (citation omitted) ... it does not appear otherwise than that plaintiff was afforded a safe place upon which to alight and did alight safely on the sidewalk of the street. From that moment the [bus company] had no control over her movements or over provisions for her safety. The relationship of carrier and passenger ceased, and the plaintiff assumed the status of a pedestrian. (citations omitted)."

Cooke, 37 Del. at 125, 180 A. at 783-84.

In Sanford, because an illegally parked car blocked the bus zone, the bus stopped at an angle about one foot into the right hand lane of the street. The plaintiff alighted, walked along the front of the bus, started to cross the street, and was hit by an automobile. Judgment for the plaintiff was reversed. The Missouri court, applying the highest degree of care standard, said the carrier had a duty to protect its passengers from known and reasonably foreseeable dangers which continued at *1044 least until the passenger had been discharged at a reasonably safe place. The court then continued: "As a general rule, however, once a passenger alights at a safe location, the carrier is no longer liable for the injuries sustained by the former passenger in crossing the street." 705 S.W.2d at 575. The court held as a matter of law that the bus company was not liable because once plaintiff safely alighted from the bus and was upon the street, the bus company no longer was responsible for her safety.

The case which most closely parallels this case is Johnson v. Cravens. There, the plaintiff boarded the bus and then asked the driver to wait while he retrieved something he had dropped. Plaintiff then got off the bus and ran in front of the bus into an intersection where he was hit by a car. Summary judgment for the bus company was affirmed. The Ohio Court of Appeals declared that among the duties owed by a common carrier to its passengers is that they be afforded a reasonably safe place to alight. The court continued:

"[HJowever, that principle is not here involved. The plaintiff was indisputably afforded a safe place to enter and exit the bus.

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526 N.E.2d 1041, 1988 Ind. App. LEXIS 572, 1988 WL 83218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/heger-v-trustees-of-indiana-university-indctapp-1988.