Houston Belt & T. Ry. Co. v. Price

192 S.W. 359, 1917 Tex. App. LEXIS 107
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 8, 1917
DocketNo. 727.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 192 S.W. 359 (Houston Belt & T. Ry. Co. v. Price) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Houston Belt & T. Ry. Co. v. Price, 192 S.W. 359, 1917 Tex. App. LEXIS 107 (Tex. Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

LANE, J.

This suit was instituted by Mrs. M. L. Price, joined pro forma by her husband, H. F. Price, for herself and in behalf of her minor son, Bonnie Pearson, against the Houston Belt & Terminal Railway Company, defendant, to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by said minor son by reason of the negligence of the servants and employes of said defendant company.

It is alleged by plaintiff that on the 9th day of November, 1908, Bonnie Pearson was a boy of eight years of age, the son of Mrs. M. ‘L. Price; that on said date the defendant company had its railway track and switches constructed on and across St. Emanuel street in the city of Houston; that on said date Mrs. Price, the mother of Bonnie Pearson, sent him to purchase bread; that in going to make said purchase he traveled northward on St. Emanuel street in the city of Houston until he reached a point where *360 defendant’s tracks crossed said street; that at tins point lie found said street blocked by ears, which' had been placed thereon by defendant’s servants and employes, so that he could not cross said track; that said street had been so blocked for more than five minutes in violation of an ordinance of the city of Houston; that after arriving at said cars Bonnie waited for some time, and as said cars were not removed and said street opened, he went westward along the side of defendant’s track about 150 feet and undertook to go around the end of a string of cars standing on said track and over said street, and that as he was crossing said track said cars were caused to be moved at a high rate of speed, more than 6 miles per hour, contrary to an ordinance of said city of Houston; that they were suddenly thrown upon said Bonnie, and thereby he was permanently injured. It is further alleged that no bell was rung nor whistle blown, or other warning given of the movement of said cars; that defendant had no one on .the cars so moved, so as to give warning to Bonnie or óthers who might undertake to' cross its track while said street was so blocked. All these matters were alleged to have been negligence on the part of defendant’s employes, and the proximate cause of Bonnie’s injuries.

Defendant answered by general demurrer, general denial, and pleas of contributory negligence, both as to the act of Mrs. Price in sending Bonnie, her eight year old son, on the errand before mentioned, and also as to the conduct of Bonnie in crossing defendant’s track at the point and manner he did just prior to and at the time of the accident which resulted in his injury.

The case was tried before a jury which resulted in a general verdict for Bonnie Pearson for the sum of $6,250, and in favor of the defendant, Plouston Belt & Terminal Company, as against Mrs. M. L. Price, and her husband, H. F. Price. Such verdict was by the court approved, and judgment accordingly entered. The defendant company alone has appealed.

By appellant’s first assignment it is insisted that the court erred in not instructing a verdict for defendant, because there is no evidence showing negligence on the part of defendant as alleged by plaintiffs which was the proximate cause of the injury to Bonnie Pearson.

We have already shown that plaintiffs alleged negligence on the part of defendant in that it placed and permitted cars to block St. Emanuel street in the city of Houston for more than five minutes, in violation of an ordinance of said city; that while said street was so blocked defendant placed no one in such a position as to give those attempting to cross its track at or near the point where said street was blocked warning of the movement of said cars; that defendant caused its cars to be moved at such point at a higher rate of speed than six miles per hour, in violation of an ordinance of said city of Houston; and that each and all of such negligent acts were the proximate cause of the injuries suffered by Bonnie Pearson.

Mrs. Price testified that she lived about two blocks south from the point where defendant’s switch tracks crossed St. Emanuel street; that when Bonnie Pearson started from her home on his errand she noticed that defendant’s cars were standing on and across said street.

Bonnie Pearson, a boy eight years of age, testified that it was about ten minutes from the time he left his home and started on his errand until he got to the end of the string of standing cars where he was injured. He also testified that when he got to the point where said cars blocked said street he waited four or five minutes before he started to go around the end of said string of cars; that he saw no one on the cars or near the crossing; and that no one warned him of danger.

S. 0. Weaver testified that the ears had been standing across St. Emanuel street for about ten minutes at the time Bonnie was injured.

It was admitted that there was a city ordinance in force at the time of the accident in question making it unlawful for railway companies to leave its engines or cars standing upon or across any of the streets of said city so as to block them for more than five minutes, and that there was also an ordinance in force at such time making it unlawful for such companies to run its engines or trains within the corporate limits of said city at a greater rate of speed than six miles per hour.

The undisputed evidence shows that when Bonnie Pearson found said street blocked by said cars he undertook to go around the end of said standing cars to get across defendant’s track, so as to pursue his journey, and that while crossing said track one of defendant’s cars was suddenly backed upon him and one of his legs crushed off.

We think the allegations and proof of negligence on the part of defendant was sufficient to support the submission of the cause to the jury, and to support the verdict rendered. T. & N. O. Ry. Co. v. Brouillette, 59 Tex. Civ. App. 337, 126 S. W. 287; St. L. & S. W. Ry. Co. v. Bolton, 36 Tex. Civ. App. 87, 81 S. W. 123, at page 125; Railway Co. v. Watkins, 88 Tex. 20, 29 S. W. 232; Ft. W. & D. C. Ry. Co. v. Poteet, 53 Tex. Civ. App. 44, 115 S. W. 883, and authorities therein cited.

If defendant blocked St. Emanuel street for more than five minutes in violation of an ordinance of the city of Houston, its act in so doing was negligence per se, and if such negligence, coupled with other alleged and proven negligent acts of the de *361 fendant, was the direct and proximate canse of Bonnie Pearson’s injury, lie was entitled to recover, in the absence of contributory negligence on bis part.

These questions were determined by the jury, upon sufficient evidence, in favor of Bonnie Pearson, and against defendant, and we are not authorized to disturb the finding of the jury on such issues. Appellant’s first assignment is overruled.

After defining the terms “negligence,” “contributory negligence,” and “proximate cause,” the court gave the further instruction as follows:

“Guided by these instructions, if you find from a preponderance of the evidence that Bonnie Pearson on the day of the injury alleged in plaintiffs’ petition started on a lawful errand along St. Emanuel street to a point beyond the intersection of said street by.

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Related

Robinson v. Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co.
203 S.W. 395 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1918)

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192 S.W. 359, 1917 Tex. App. LEXIS 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/houston-belt-t-ry-co-v-price-texapp-1917.