Hussey v. Ryan

2 A. 729, 64 Md. 426, 1886 Md. LEXIS 110
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland
DecidedJanuary 15, 1886
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 2 A. 729 (Hussey v. Ryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hussey v. Ryan, 2 A. 729, 64 Md. 426, 1886 Md. LEXIS 110 (Md. 1886).

Opinion

Ritchie, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The plaintiff’s cause of action, on which he recovered below, is thus set out in his amended narr.:

“ For, that he the defendant heretofore, to wit, on the first day of February, 1884, at the City of Baltimore, was, and for a long time prior thereto, had been in possession of certain premises there situate, and while so in possession, wrongfully and unjustly caused to be put and erected in and upon a certain public street and .highway there called West Pratt street, a high and long fence, to wit, about twelve feet high and fifteen feet long, and connected therewith a certain wooden shed or structure ; and wrong[431]*431fully, negligently and unjustly allowed and permitted said fence, belonging and appurtenant to the premises aforesaid, so in possession of the defendant, and in and upon the said public street and highway, to wit, West Pratt street, to become dilapidated, unsafe and dangerous to persons rightfully passing on and along said public highway or street, and to remain in such dilapidated, unsafe and dangerous condition for a long space, to wit, from the said first day of February until the day of the institution of this suit; by means and in consequence of which said wrongful, negligent, unjust and improper conduct of the said defendant, the fence did on the 20th day of February, 1884, fall down upon, over and across the said public street or highway, to wit, West Pratt street; and Maggie Ryan, the infant daughter of the plaintiff then passing on and along said West Pratt street, on the way to the place of her employment, while in the exercise of reasonable caution and care on her part, was unavoidably crushed beneath the weight of the said falling fence and nuisance, and thereby cut, bruised, wounded and permanently injured ; whereby she became sick, sore and disordered, and has so remained until the institution of this suit; whereby the plaintiff during all that time was deprived of the services and assistance of his said infant daughter, and was forced to lay out and expend a large sum of money in and about her care and nursing, to wit, the sum of one hundred dollars, and has during all that time been deprived of her services and assistance; and other wrongs and injuries were inflicted upon the plaintiff by the wrongful, unjust and negligent acts of the defendant hereinbefore alleged.”
“And the plaintiff brings this his suit therefor, and claims one thousand dollars damages.”

The proof clearly established the falling of the fence upon the child while near it on the street designated, on the 20th of February, 1884; that the fence was of the di[432]*432mensions described, and appurtenant to the lot whose front it bounded, as it ran along and with said highway; that the defendant had occupied said lot as tenant, a vacant one when he went upon it, and had used it for the purposes of his business, and had erected the fence or part of it, and the shed or stable which stood against it, at least six or eight years prior to the time of the accident; that he had surrendered possession of the lot to his landlord on the 4th of said month of February, and removed the stable about the same date ; and also, after the accident, removed the fence still standing, and took it into his own possession.

The points of contention in the case were the extent of the injury to the child; the character of the fence as to soundness, and the effect upon its stability of removing the stable; whether its fall was or not solely due to the violence of the wind; the legal liability of the defendant, in view of his surrender of the lot to his landlord prior to the day of the accident, and as to the measure of damages.

In the consideration of the prayers, on which the exceptions were based, we shall refer more in detail to the evidence to which they relate, and state our opinion of the law as applicable thereto.

The plaintiff’s prayer simply rests his right to recover, on the finding by the jury, from the evidence that defendant was in the occupation and possession of the lot, situate on West Pratt street, a public thoroughfare of Baltimore City; that he erected the fence complained of in an insecure and unsafe manner, or permitted the same to be insecure and unsafe to persons passing along said street, and that the plaintiff’s infant daughter, aged about thirteen years, was passing along said street, with due care and caution, and while so passing along said street, the fence, then being in an unsafe and insecure condition, fell upon and. injured said infant daughter of plaintiff; unless the jury shall further find that said fence, if in a good and [433]*433safe condition at the time it fell, would have fallen from the violence of the wind testified to.

The Court granted this prayer, and also several instructions supplementary or explanatory thereof, the last one orally during defendant’s final argument to the jury, but reduced to writing at defendant’s instance ; all which instructions, with the prayer itself, the defendant excepted to. The first of these added instructions is objectionable to appellant, because directing the jury, that, in awarding compensation for the loss of his daughter’s services, they might consider how far the injury was permanent in its nature, and might affect her ability to render services for the plaintiff to the period when she would arrive at the age of twenty-one years. The second instruction states it to be unnecessary to find defendant was in possession of the lot at the time of the accident, or after the 4th of February. The oral instruction was in effect, but the reassertion of the second, with the accompanying statement, that the Court, when granting the plaintiff’s prayer, intended thereby to instruct the jury substantially as they are now instructed by the explanation of said prayer.

So far as defendant’s exception to this last instruction rests upon its being voluntary, or an explanation of the prayer to which it relates, it is well settled that the Court may give instructions of its own, or explain the effect of those granted at the instance of the parties, provided they are not inconsistent therewith. Such an interposition of the Court is often salutary and promotive of a clear understanding of the law of the case, especially if its rulings are not clearly understood, or, as sometimes occurs, are contravened or misconstrued in the argument to the jury. We think the Court clearly within its prerogative in this instance. Higgins vs. Carlton, 28 Md., 115; 2 Poe’s Pl. & Prac., 292, and authorities there cited.

As to the substance of the plaintiff’s prayer, and of the instructions supplemental thereto, we think the defend[434]*434ant’s exceptions not well taken. So holding, in our opinion the defendant’s first prayer, asking the instruction that there was no evidence in the case legally sufficient to warrant the jury in finding that the injuries sustained by the plaintiff’s daughter were caused hy any such wrongful act or acts, or hy any such negligence on the part of the defendant, as would entitle the plaintiff to maintain his action, was properly refused.

The defendant’s second prayer presents the proposition that, if the surrender of the lot to his landlord took place on the 4th of February, and the accident did not occur until the 20th of the same month, he was not liable. This prayer', we think, was also properly rejected.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Patterson v. T.L. Wallace Construction, Inc.
133 So. 3d 352 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2012)
Miller v. Coast Electric Power Ass'n
797 So. 2d 314 (Court of Appeals of Mississippi, 2001)
Sanders v. Williams
120 A.2d 397 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1996)
Michaels v. Nemethvargo
571 A.2d 850 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1990)
Gaver v. Harrant
557 A.2d 210 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1989)
Tadjer v. Montgomery County
487 A.2d 658 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1985)
Wilhelm v. State of Maryland Traffic Safety Commission
185 A.2d 715 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1962)
Hudson v. Hudson
174 A.2d 339 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1961)
Baum v. Freeman
103 So. 2d 654 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1958)
Feinglos v. Weiner
28 A.2d 577 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1942)
Sline & Sons, Inc. v. Hooper
164 A. 548 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1933)
Pindell v. Rubenstein
115 A. 859 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1921)
Lucid v. Citizens Investment Co.
193 P. 161 (California Court of Appeal, 1920)
Calvert v. G. G. Burnett Estate Co., Inc.
185 P. 428 (California Court of Appeal, 1919)
Weiller v. Weiss
92 A. 1028 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1915)
King v. Cooney-Eckstein Co.
63 So. 659 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1913)
Weant v. Southern Trust & Deposit Co.
77 A. 289 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1910)
Rosenkovitz v. United Railways & Electric Co.
70 A. 108 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1908)
Elizardi v. Kelly
2 Teiss. 279 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1905)
Brush Electric Lighting Co. v. Kelley
25 N.E. 812 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1890)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2 A. 729, 64 Md. 426, 1886 Md. LEXIS 110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hussey-v-ryan-md-1886.