Leon v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad

167 N.W. 787, 102 Neb. 537, 1918 Neb. LEXIS 94
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 17, 1918
DocketNo. 19569
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 167 N.W. 787 (Leon v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leon v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 167 N.W. 787, 102 Neb. 537, 1918 Neb. LEXIS 94 (Neb. 1918).

Opinions

Dean, J.

Mbs. Marion Leon, plaintiff and appellee, aged 22, sued defendant for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by her in being thrown from the lower step of one of defendant’s coaches that was “negligently and carelessly moved, jerked and suddenly started,” as alleged, at its Omaha depot as she was about to alight therefrom after accompanying into the coach one of defendant’s outgoing passengers who was her guest and about to leave the city. , She recovered a judgment for $1,350, and defendant appealed. This cause is before us. on rehearing. The former hearing was before the commission, and on their recomméndation we reversed the judgment of the district court.

• Plaintiff’s petition alleges in substance that she was permitted by the employees of defendant to pass through the depot gate and to board a coach in defendant’s train that an employee negligently and carelessly represented to her “would remain stationary for a period of four to five minutes from the time she boarded it; that, relying and depending upon said permission, advice and representation, plaintiff boarded said car and remained there * * * not more than two minutes; that she then immediately left said car, and that while she was in the act of stepping. therefrom * * * defendant, acting by and through its agents, negligently and carelessly moved, jerked and suddenly started said car without giving plaintiff any notice or warning whatever that said car was about to be moved, thereby throwing plaintiff violently to the ground and upon said brick pavement; * * * that, as a direct, immediate and proximate result of the negligence and carelessness of defendant,” she received the injuries complained of.

[539]*539Defendant’s answer denied generally the averments of the petition, and alleged that “none of its servants, * * * had authority to represent to the plaintiff * * * that its trains would remain stationary for any period whatsoever; * * # that any injury or inconvenience plaintiff may have suffered as the result of the movement of any of defendant’s trains, same resulted from plaintiff’s carelessness and negligence, and by reason of risks which she assumed in going upon defendant’s premises and into its cars, and did not result from any negligence or carelessness on the defendant’s part.” Plaintiff’s reply was a general denial.

Miss Grojinsky had been plaintiff’s guest at her home in Omaha for about two weeks. She was a stranger there, and being unacquainted with the streets and car service plaintiff accompanied her to the depot at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon of August 3, 1914. Together they were permitted to proceed through the station gate to the train, upon Miss Grojinsky showing her ticket to the gatekeeper. Miss Grojinsky testified that when they arrived at the coach this conversation took place between her and defendant’s brakeman who was standing at the steps: “I showed him my ticket and said, ‘Red Oak?’ He said, ‘Yes, ma’am. This is the train.’ I said, ‘How many minutes before my train leaves?’ He said, ‘Ten minutes.’ I said, ‘Then my friend'will have time to go on the train a minute to say good-bye?’ ‘Yes, lady, plenty of time;’ and he ushered us on.” She said that at the time she told the brakeman that Mrs. Leon was there merely to see her off. She added that plaintiff was in the coach with her not to exceed two minutes, and that a few seconds after Mrs. Leon left her seated in the coach “there was a sudden lurch of the car. * * * I was jarred, kind of thrown forward in my seat. * * * Q. What did you observe when you looked out of the window? A. Marion Leon had fallen from the car. A gentleman was assisting her. * * * Q. Where was she when you looked out of the [540]*540car? A. Lying on the brick — Q. Brick pavement? A. Or the ground.” The witness said the coach at the time moved several feet forward, and that no signal was given that the train was about to be moved. On cross-examination she testified, “Q. How far did the train move after this jerk that you spoke of before the train came to rest? A. Several feet. * * * About 7 or 8 feet. * * * Q. How long after it came to rest, after this jolt, before it departed? A. About 4 or 5 minutes.”

Plaintiff testified that she left her guest seated in the coach about two minutes after her entrance, and that as she was descending the steps, and, just at the moment when her left foot was on the lower step and her right foot was in position to step down on the pavement, and while she was holding to the hand-rail of the ear, “this train gave a sudden jerk and I was thrown * * * to the pavement.” She added that she was not warned and did not know the train was about to be moved, and that as a result of its sudden movement she fell violently to the pavement on her right side, thereby incurring the injuries complained of. Her testimony was substantially to the same effect as that of Miss Groj insky respecting the conversation with the brakeman at the car steps. She testified that no box" step was in sight, nor was any employee of defendant to be seen when she came out of the coach, and that when she fell she was assisted to her feet by a young man of about 18, a stranger, who partly supported and partly carried her through the depot' gate and up the steps into the main waiting-room, and that after a brief period of rest, though in great pain, she boarded a street car that carried her to the store of her husband, and that he at once called a physician who came and administered first aid, and that she was again examined by the physician the same evening after being taken by her husband in a taxi to her home. She testified that as a result of the fall her entire right side was bruised and her arm was bleeding and her right foot was sprained, and that she [541]*541was in bed for ten days immediately after the accident, the doctor attending her “about twice a day,” and that she was “up and down for about six weeks,” suffering greatly all of the time. Plaintiff’s testimony was corroborated by her husband, and by a nurse who attended her a few days, and who saw her often afterwards, respecting the bruised condition of her body and the length of time that she suffered. They also testified that before the accident plaintiff was strong and free from bodily ills and able to do ordinary housework, but that she was afterwards subject to nervous attacks and was unable to do but little of such work.

The attending physician testified that he examined plaintiff two times on the afternoon and evening of August 3. He said that on arriving at the- store of plaintiff’s' husband “Mrs. Leon was sitting on a box at the rear end of the store, * * * suffering quite a bit of pain, and pretty sick, and .1 simply bandaged up the leg. It was badly swollen, and I ordered her to be taken home at once, and I saw her late in the afternoon again.” He testified that plaintiff was in the third Or fourth month of pregnancy, and that she bled internally, and that her injuries threatened to result in a miscarriage, and that because of the pain she suffered he administered morphine hypodermics for about two days. He also said that plaintiff was “flat on her back * * * from seven to ten days, and she was under observation for about four or five or six weeks after that.” He was acquainted with her for about' a year before he attended her and said that her health was good before the injury.

Defendant does not complain of the amount of the recovery; but, in view of its contention that the accident complained of by plaintiff was not sustained by her upon the premises of the railroad, we have discussed the pleading and the testimony at unusual length.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 N.W. 787, 102 Neb. 537, 1918 Neb. LEXIS 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leon-v-chicago-burlington-quincy-railroad-neb-1918.