Landau v. St. Louis Public Service Co.

347 S.W.2d 870, 1961 Mo. LEXIS 611
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 10, 1961
DocketNo. 48401
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 347 S.W.2d 870 (Landau v. St. Louis Public Service Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Landau v. St. Louis Public Service Co., 347 S.W.2d 870, 1961 Mo. LEXIS 611 (Mo. 1961).

Opinion

WESTHUES, Presiding Judge.

This is the second appeal of this case. On the former trial, a jury returned a verdict for the defendant. The trial court granted a new trial for error in an instruction given at defendant’s request. That order was affirmed by this court. See Landau v. St. Louis Public Service Company, Mo., 322 S.W.2d 132.

Plaintiff filed this suit asking $50,000 damages for loss of consortium claiming that plaintiff’s wife sustained personal injuries through the negligence of the defendant. A trial resulted in a jury verdict for the defendant. From the judgment, plaintiff appealed.

[871]*871Plaintiff, on this appeal, briefed seven points. Points I and III concern rulings on evidence. In point II, plaintiff complains of a ruling restricting the argument to the jury. In points IV and V, plaintiff says the trial court erred in giving instructions 6 and 5 at defendant’s request. In point VI, plaintiff says the court erred in permitting defendant to ask jurors on voir dire examination whether they would conscientiously try to follow the instructions of the court. In point VII, it is asserted that “Defendant’s counsel committed prejudicial error by injecting into the case references at intermittent intervals to the fact that plaintiff’s wife had previously had a suit arising out of this same collision.”

Before taking up the above assignments of error, we shall make a statement of the facts as shown by the evidence. Plaintiff’s wife, Gay D. Landau, on June 9, 1950, at about 10:00 a. m., was driving a car east-wardly on Olive Street in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. As she was thus driving in the 3000 block, her car came into collision with a streetcar owned and operated by the defendant. Olive Street, at this point, had a double set of streetcar tracks. The streetcar involved in the collision was traveling in an easterly direction. To the right or south of the tracks there were three lanes for vehicular travel. The one next to the curb was at the time in question occupied by parked cars. Mrs. Landau was driving in the third lane or the one next to the tracks. A man by the name of Louis Hying was driving a car in the middle lane to the right of Mrs. Landau. Toward the east end of the 3000 block of Olive Street a red truck was double parked and was blocking the second or middle lane of travel. Both Hying and Mrs. Landau turned their cars slightly to the left so as to pass the truck. Before reaching the point where the truck was parked, Mrs. Landau’s car and the streetcar collided. The dispute in the evidence was as to the relative positions of the Landau car and the streetcar at the time of and immediately prior to the collision.

Mrs. Landau testified that as she approached the 3000 block, she noticed or saw, as she glanced at her rearview mirror, an eastbound streetcar following at a distance of about 50 feet. She stated that she was traveling at a steady rate of 25 m. p. h., and continued at that speed up to the time of the collision; that when she turned to the left, her car was about a foot from the tracks; that in this position, she continued eastward for about 50 to 75 feet when she felt the impact of the streetcar striking her car at the side and rear; that the front of the streetcar hooked onto her car and pushed it eastwardly for about 75 feet.

The motorman of the streetcar testified that he never saw the Landau car prior to the collision; that the first he knew of the Landau car was when, in the 3000 block, he felt and heard a scraping on the side of the streetcar near the right front door; that the Landau car was at no time in front of the streetcar and that the streetcar did not strike the Landau car.

There was corroborating evidence to support both plaintiff’s theory and defendant’s theory.

The case was submitted to a jury under the humanitarian doctrine. Defendant has briefed the point that the evidence did not justify a submission of the case to a jury on that theory. We shall for the purpose of this case only assume that the evidence was sufficient to make a case for a jury.

We shall now dispose of the points briefed by the plaintiff. In the first point, it is claimed that error was committed when the trial court instructed the jury to disregard a statement made by Mrs. Landau shortly after the collision to the effect “It’s all your fault.” That the statement was made is admitted. The question is to whom it was addressed. If made to the motorman, it was a self-serving statement. If made to Hying, the man driving the car to Mrs. Landau’s right, then the statement had a tendency to contradict Mrs. Landau’s theory that it was the motorman’s fault. [872]*872The question was presented to the trial . court in the following manner: On cross-examination, Mrs. Landau was asked, “After this accident, did you accuse or say that Mr. Hying, the driver of the automobile to your right was at fault at the time of this accident ?” She answered, “I don’t know; —I don’t recall that I did.”

Mr. Hying was asked by defendant’s counsel, “Did that lady, after this accident, ever state anything to you?” He answered, “Nothing in particular, just as I got out of the car she said, ‘Well, it’s your fault.’" In rebuttal, Mrs. Landau was recalled as a witness and the following occurred:

“Q. Now Mi'S. Landau, with regard to a statement allegedly made by you, a statement, ‘It’s all your fault.’, do you recall giving that statement, or making that statement after the accident? A. I did tell the motorman that when I gave the motorman my name, as I recall.
“Mr. Bell: May it please the Court, I am going to object to that as being a self-serving statement on the part of the witness and I object to it as being ' improper, what is now redirect examination.
“Mr. Moran: That’s all.
“Mr. Bell: And move that it be stricken and the Jury told to disregard that.
“The Court: The objection will be sustained and the Jury will be instructed to disregard that last answer of the witness.
“Mr. Moran: That’s all.”

Note that Mr. Moran, plaintiff’s counsel, did not ask Mrs. Landau whether or not she had made such a statement to Mr. Hying. A negative answer to such a question would have been in contradiction of Mr. Hying’s evidence. That Mrs. Landau made such a statement to the motorman was not in rebuttal of Hying’s evidence. Mrs. Landau may have made such a statement to the motorman and also to Mr. Hying. We rule the trial court did not err. The following authorities, cited by plaintiff, are not applicable to the question before us: “98 C.J.S. 646, Witnesses Sec. 629; Massman v. Muehlebach, 231 Mo.App. 72, 95 S.W.2d 808, 814(9); Johnson v. Minihan, 355 Ma. 1208, 200 S.W.2d 334, 338; Baker v. Thompson-Hayward Chemical Co., Mo.App., 316 S.W. 652, 657.” The last citation should read 316 S.W.2d.

There is no merit in plaintiff’s point VI wherein complaint is made that the court permitted defendant’s counsel to ask two jurors if they would conscientiously try to follow the court’s instructions and the evidence from the witness stand. No objection was made to the inquiry so the point was not preserved for review.

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Related

Anderson v. Independent Mutual Fire Insurance Co.
453 S.W.2d 609 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1970)
Moll v. Springdale Park, Inc.
395 S.W.2d 126 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1965)
West v. St. Louis Public Service Co.
357 S.W.2d 69 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
347 S.W.2d 870, 1961 Mo. LEXIS 611, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landau-v-st-louis-public-service-co-mo-1961.