Kriedermacher v. Union Railway

59 Misc. 410, 110 N.Y.S. 1113
CourtCity of New York Municipal Court
DecidedMay 15, 1908
StatusPublished

This text of 59 Misc. 410 (Kriedermacher v. Union Railway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering City of New York Municipal Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kriedermacher v. Union Railway, 59 Misc. 410, 110 N.Y.S. 1113 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1908).

Opinion

Finelite, J.

This is the reargument of a motion for a new trial. The action came on for trial before the court and a jury; at the close of plaintiff’s case the'complaint was dismissed. The plaintiff sued to recover $2,000 damages for personal injuries alleged to have been received on September 28, 1905, while attempting to board a car at Webster avenue and One Hundred and Hinety-eighth street. The defendant’s motion to dismiss was made on the following grounds: (1) that the plaintiff failed to prove a cause of action; (2) that plaintiff failed to show defendant’s negligence; (3) that plaintiff failed to show his own freedom from contributory negligence; (4) that plaintiff failed to prove that defendant operated the car which caused the accident. Taking up the question whether the plaintiff proved the negli[411]*411gence of the defendant and his own freedom from contributory negligence, an examination of the evidence shows that he descended the stairs of the Third avenue elevated line at its terminal to get a Mount Vernon car. “ It came in slowly from ¡New York.” As he came down the stairs he saw a Fordham car standing upon another track. As the Mount Vemon car was moving along slowly the plaintiff put one foot on the running board of the car and grasped the side bar with his hands. While in this position the car went faster before he could get inside the body of the car; he also testified that “ I was already then at the other car,” meaning the Fordham car, standing stationary, with which he came into contact and was thrown and injured. It appears from the evidence that the car which plaintiff attempted to board came to a stop and the conductor of said car came back to the plaintiff, who was sitting on the running board of the Fórdham car with his feet upon the ground. There is no evidence that the plaintiff signalled the car or indicated his desire to board it. There is no evidence that the motorman or conductor of the car saw plaintiff at that time or slowed down. The only evidence is that the car came in slowly from ¡New York.” There is evidence that the conductor was on the front board of the car; that the plaintiff knew he was the conductor from the fact that he walked “ up and down, to and fro, on the running board of the car and collected the fares.” This was the only evidence of what the conductor, was doing at the time. The plaintiff’s testimony is that the accident happened “ in too short a time,” and that as he put one foot on the running board of the Mount Vernon car he was already at the Fordham car. They (the Mount Vernon and Fordham cars) were so nearly approached to each other that you could not put a hand through; there was not more room than to go through with a hand. * * "" I was knocked down between the two cars.” The language quoted is verbatim that of the plaintiff on his direct examination. To support his contention that a new trial should be granted plaintiff cites the case of Morrison v. B. & S. A. R. R. Co., 130 ¡N". Y. 166, 170. The facts of that case were: A man seventy-six years old, unincumbered, signalled a car which [412]*412was passing at the usual speed on defendant’s road on a crowded street; the brake being applied the car slowed up, but did not entirely stop; plaintiff caught hold of the rail of the rear platform with both hands, and as he put his foot upon the step the brake was released and the car started with a sudden jerk; his feet were thereby thrown from the step, he was dragged along for a distance and injured. In an action to recover damages the court held that the question of defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence were questions of fact, and so were properly submitted to the jnry; that the fact that the car was moving slowly when plaintiff was attempting to get on did not establish contributory negligence as a matter of law. At page 169, the court says: The fact that the car was in motion when the plaintiff proceeded to step on it was one for consideration on the question whether he voluntarily assumed the hazard of safety in getting on board of it at the time he attempted to do so.” To the same effect are numerous citations in plaintiff’s briefs, in each of which cases the proximate cause of the injuries was the acceleration of the speed of the car in question. In order to malee these cases authoritative plaintiff quotes from the testimony: “ Q. Mr. Kriedermacher, the speed at which the car was going at the time you boarded it, had it remained at that speed, would you have been enabled to have boarded the car before that car had reached the Fordham car? A. Yes.” This is the only evidence on the acceleration of the speed of the car, and his statement that he could have reached a place of safety if it were not for the acceleration of the speed of the car is merely a. conclusion of the witness of what he might have done under different circumstances, which he assumed. The facts, however, do not warrant such a conclusion. The case of Moylan v. Second Ave. R. R. Oo., 128 N. Y. 583-, is of particular interest. That was an action to recover damages for injuries sustained by plaintiff while attempting to board a car of the defendant. Plaintiff was a young man twenty-six years old, able-bodied and unincumbered. He waited for one of the defendant's open cars upon a crosswalk and motioned for it to stop; when it had nearly stopped he put his foot on the step on the side of and near [413]*413the middle of the car and took hold of the stanchion, and after the car had moved six or seven feet he was struck by the wheel of a truck which was standing in the street. It was there held that a refusal to nonsuit was error; that it was plaintiffs duty to see before getting on the car that there was no obstacle outside the car which would make it dangerous for him to attempt to get on board, and that if the injury was attributable to any negligence it was in part, at least, that of the plaintiff. The court says, at page 584: “It is impossible for us to perceive wherein the defendant was guilty of negligence, or if it was guilty, wherein it was more guilty than the plaintiff. It was not careless for the plaintiff to attempt to enter the car while it was slowly moving. * * * Ho negligence can, therefore, be imputed to the 'defendant merely because it did not stop the car for the plaintiff. * * * The sole question, therefore, is whether the defendant ought to have guarded the plaintiff against injury from the truck in the street near its track. It was not bound to know that the truck was temporarily there so close to its track that there was danger that a person attempting to get into one of its cars might be injured by collision therewith. * * * The plaintiff, when he attempted to get upon the car, was probably nearer the truck .than the conductor was and he had a better opportunity to see the truck than the conductor had, as it was on the same side of the car with him, near him, in plain sight, in fact in his immediate presence.” The facts in that case are parallel with those on the motion before me. The plaintiff testified that the accident happened in “ too short a time,” and that as he put one foot on the running board of the Mount Vernon car he was already at the Fordham car. “ They (the Mount Vernon and Fordham cars) were so nearly approached to each other that you could not put a hand through; there was not more room than to go through with a hand. * * * It happened too quick, in too short a time.” Humerous cases are cited which support the proposition that it is not negligence as a matter of law for an intending passenger to attempt to board a moving car. Morrison v. B. & S. A. R. R. Co., 130 H. Y. 166, 170; Wallace v. Third [414]*414Ave. R. R. Co., 36 App. Div.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 Misc. 410, 110 N.Y.S. 1113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kriedermacher-v-union-railway-nynyccityct-1908.