Jones v. Youngstown Municipal Ry. Co.

25 Ohio Law. Abs. 488, 1937 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1145
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 2, 1937
DocketNo 2368
StatusPublished

This text of 25 Ohio Law. Abs. 488 (Jones v. Youngstown Municipal Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jones v. Youngstown Municipal Ry. Co., 25 Ohio Law. Abs. 488, 1937 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1145 (Ohio Ct. App. 1937).

Opinion

OPINION

By ROBERTS, J.

This cause is in this court on an appeal of law from the Court of Common Pleas, wherein Lena Jones, the appellee, was plaintiff, and the Youngstown Municipal Railway Company, appellant, was defendant, The parties will hereinafter be alluded to as plaintiff and defendant in like manner as in the lower- court.

The plaintiff, a young. colored woman, 21 years of age, boarded one of the defendant’s busses at a regular stop in front of the Central Tower Building on West Federal Street in the city of Youngstown, about noon on the 26th day of July, 1934. This bus proceeded easterly across the Central Square and along East Federal Street to Basin Street, where the bus stopped, and. which street was the destination of the plaintiff. She attempted to alight from the bus when she fell in the aisle and was assisted to a. seat by the operator of the bus, who discovered upon and removed from the sole of her shoe a piece of banana peel. The plaintiff claims that she received severe injuries as a result of this [489]*489fall, which she claims was because of the negligence of the defendant, and brought this action seeking to recover damages. The trial resulted in a verdict ha favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $800.00. Judgment was entered upon the verdict and the defendant has prosecuted its appeal to this court. The issue has been submitted upon briefs and oral arguments and is now for determhaation.

Four propositions of alleged error are urged by counsel for the defendant, as follows:

1. The trial court erred in failing to direct a verdict upon motion of defendant at the close of plaintiff’s evidence, and again at the close of all the evidence.

2. The trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury before argument as requested by defendant in the written request number four.

3. The trial court erred in charging upon the question of damages.

• 4. The trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury upon the law of constructive notice as requested by counsel for defendant at the conclusion of the general charge.

Going now a little more fully into the evidence for a better consideration of the matters' concerning which complaint is made, it is stated that the line over which this bus was operated is known as the Hillman-Albert line, the termini of which are as follows: On the south side of the city on the corner of Overland and Cohasset Streets, and the northerly end of the line is at the corner of Albert Street and Hubbard Road. It is the contention of the plaintiff that on the day in question there was some sort of a celebration for children at Idoi'a Park, and that on the trip of the bus upon which the plaintiff was riding a considerable number of children were riding on the bus after having visited this park; that they were eating bananas while in the bus, and later engaged in throwing banana peels in the bus and at each other. The. scheduled time of the bus from its starting point in the southerly end of the city to Basin Street was about twelve minutes, during which time frequent stops were made and numerous people entered and alighted from the bus,- so that it is claimed that the time and attention of the bus driver was quite fully occupied with his duties in this regard, and he being required to maintain his seat at the door when passengers were entering or leaving.

Raymond G. Thornton, the bits driver, denies that previous to the falling of the plaintiff he had any knowledge whatever of any banana peels being thrown about or in the bus. There was a mirror over his head by which he could see out of the rear window of the bus, and, as he says, see the heads or perhaps the upper part of the bodies of passengers seated, but that he could not see the floor while so seated. He made no inspection of the bus or its condition during this trip. Two witnesses testified for the plaintiff, colored men named Thomas Richardson and Joseph Clayton. Their testimony was to the effect that children were playing during the trip with banana skins; that it started at the hospital at Oak Hill Avenue and continued to or near to the stop of the bus in front of the Central Tower, where the plaintiff took passage. Richardson testified:

"Q. As these children were playing with these banana peelings, was there anything said to the children by you?
A. I spoke up about the kids, they commenced to throw banana peelings at one another.
Q. How close were you sitting ■ to the bus driver?
A. I was about middle ways, you understand, in my seat.
Q. Did you speak to the boys in a tone of voice that could have been heard by the bus driver.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Following that fact, what, if anything, did the bus driver do?
A. Nothing but just look around.
Q. Looked around in the bus?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. To the rear of him?
A. Yes, sir.”

The witness Clayton gave similar testimony, and upon inquiry as to whether the bus driver said anything when he was helping the plaintiff up from the aisle, where she had fallen, and was removing the banana peel from her shoes, the witness says:

“A. Yes, he made some remarks.
Q. Did you hear what the remark was?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Will you tell the jury what he said?
A. He said these damn kids been eating bananas and throwing them around.”

The testimony of these two witnesses, who have been quoted only in part, is to [490]*490the effect that the children were throwing-banana peels about the bus, and in one instance there is testimony that a peeling was thrown under the seat where the plaintiff was sitting and that another was in the aisle. This testimony further lends to indicate that the bus driver had or ought to have had knowledge of this conduct of the children, and with such knowledge it is claimed that it was his duty, representing his employer, to look for and remove banana peels from the floor, that being known by reason of their tendency to cause a person to slip when stepping upon them.

On the other hand, howevr, the bus driver denies any knowledge of the presence of banana peels; that he. heal’d these witnesses, or either of them, reprove the children, and that there was anything to indicate danger or an unusual condition in the bus which might be hazardous to the plaintiff as a passenger.

Referring now to the first of the four alleged grounds of error, which reads as follows: “The trial court erred in refusing to direct a verdict in favor of the defendant at the close of plaintiff’s evidence and again at the close of all the evidence,’’ it is thought that little need be said upon this proposition. Some reference has already been made to the evidence in the case.

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Related

Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Rose
79 N.E. 1094 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1907)
Bassell v. Hines
269 F. 231 (Sixth Circuit, 1920)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
25 Ohio Law. Abs. 488, 1937 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 1145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-youngstown-municipal-ry-co-ohioctapp-1937.