Mahfouz v. Interurban Trans. Co.

135 So. 740, 17 La. App. 241, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 764
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 14, 1931
DocketNo. 4050
StatusPublished

This text of 135 So. 740 (Mahfouz v. Interurban Trans. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mahfouz v. Interurban Trans. Co., 135 So. 740, 17 La. App. 241, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 764 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

McGREGOR, J.

This is a suit brought by the plaintiff against the defendant for damages on account of personal injuries alleged to have been received by him while-traveling as a passenger on a bus owned and operated by the defendant. The bus on which plaintiff -was riding made the-trip daily from Monroe to Alexandria. On [242]*242February 17, 1927, the plaintiff was in the town of Georgetown, which is on the regular bus route from Monroe to Alexandria, and, desiring to go to Alexandria, he purchased a ticket to that place for $1.35 and boarded the first bus that came along. After he had traveled about three miles the town of Selma was reached, at which point the graveled highway runs parallel wjth and on the east side of the main line of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. When the bus entered the town it was running at the rate of thirty-five miles per hour, and as it progressed through the town the bus driver says that the speed was gradually reduced to twenty-five miles per hour. In the town of Selma there is a street or road on the east .side of the highway that runs in a northeasterly a^d southwesterly direction until it reaches a filling station on the east side of the highway, where it turns directly west several feet south of the filling station and crosses the railroad at right angles; so that there is a triangular lot between the filling station, the highway, and the other road just mentioned. When the bus reached a point one hundred twenty-five feet north of where this road crosses; the> highway and the railroad at right angles, the driver observed a Ford truck starting up from the little triangular lot just mentioned, right in the edge of the highway, and preparing to enter it. The driver says that as soon as he saw the truck he slowed down to twenty-five miles per hour, and that by the time; he had nearly reached it he had slowed down to ten or fifteen miles per hour. Whether this is true or not we are unable to *say, but, be that as it may, after the Ford truck came upon the highway it turned due west with the apparent intention of .crossing it and the railroad, and, when it got in the middle of the highway, the motor stalled and went dead. The driver of the bus says that at this moment he was within six or eight feet of the truck standing still in the middle of the road, with his own speed cut to ten or fifteen miles per hour, and that, confronted with this emergency, he turned suddenly to the right to the west and landed on the railroad where the road crossed it at right angles. The distance from the point where the turn was thus suddenly made to the point where the bus was finally stopped on the railroad was fifty-three feet, according to the testimony of a civil engineer who made a blueprint of the road and of - the points adjacent to the scene of the accident. When the bus came to a standstill it was necessary, for all the passengers to get out so that the driver could jack it up and get it off the railroad track back onto the highway.

After the passengers had been unloaded and the bus had been gotten off the railroad track and preparations, were made to renew the journey to Alexandria, the driver took a list of the names and addresses of all passengers, about six in number. He says that at the time plaintiff complained for the first time that he had been hurt in the bus by being thrown from his seat when it ran suddenly upon and down the railroad track. Plaintiff says it was known that he was hurt before he left the bus, as some of the passengers had assisted him to get up and out. The journey was resumed, and as soon as Alexandria was reached the plaintiff was taken to a doctor’s. office and received medical attention at the hands of Dr. J. I. Peters, a witness for the defendant, who found him suffering from a contusion of the left shoulder and a contusion of the left side near the hip. This doctor bandaged the arm and shoulder with adhesive tape to keep them still, but [243]*243did nothing with reference -to the contusion on the left side» Before bandaging the arm and shoulder, X-ray pictures of the upper portion of the body, including the shoulder joints, were made. On the next day plaintiff went to Dr. F. B. Duckett, who testified as a witness for the plaintiff. This doctor made an examination of the plaintiff’s body and found about the same injuries as were found by Dr. Peters. He loosened the tape bandage on the arm.and shoulder, as the plaintiff complained of it being too tight and hurting him.

This suit was filed on December 16, 1927. In his petition plaintiff alleges that from the date of the accident to the date of the filing of this suit he had been totally incapacitated for work on account of the injury received. He prays for damages in the sum of $7,043, which he itemizes as follows: $2,000 for loss- of time; $5,000 for mental and physical pain and suffering and physical disfigurement; and $43 for doctor’s fee and drug bills.

Before the trial Jaubert Bros, became the owners, of the suit by purchase at a judicial sale, and by mutual agreement the case was. tried with them as substituted plaintiffs. The judgment of the lower court rejected plaintiff’s demand, and from that judgment this appeal is being prosecuted.

There are two questions of fact to be decided in this case. (1) As to whether plaintiff suffered any appreciable injury; and (2) if he did, was it the result of the negligence of the defendant’s, agent, the driver of the bus? Plaintiff insists in his pleadings and in his testimony that he had been totally incapacitated by the injury he received. On this point no testimony is offered but his own. At the time of the accident he was earning $125 per month, and since then, according to his testimony, he has been unable to earn any amount on account of his physical disability. It would seem that, if the injury were as serious as he contends, he could and would have produced medical testimony to that effect. Up to the time of the injury all his employment had, been along the line of mercantile work, and the disability that is shown to exist in his arm and shoulder would not prevent him from doing that kind of work. But he was injured to some extent. As soon as he was taken to Alexandria he was carried to the office of Dr. Peters, who found two contusions on his. body, one on the left side and one on the left arm and shoulder. The arm and shoulder were injured seriously enough to justify Dr. Peters in bandaging them with tape to prevent any motion in the shoulder joint to give it opportunity to recover from whatever sprain may have been suffered. Dr. Peters testified that he considered the injuries- serious, but thought recovery should be made in a week or ten days. He never saw the plaintiff again professionally. On -the next day plaintiff went to Dr. F. B. Luckett, who made a fairly thorough examination and found the same injuries that Dr. Peters had found. He loosened the bandage put on by Dr. Peters, as plaintiff complained of it being too tight. He found the plaintiff suffering considerably, and it was his opinion that plaintiff would in the ordinary course be disabled for some ten days to a month. A great deal of effort is made by counsel for defendant to discredit plaintiff’s testimony to the effect thal he was injured by being .thrown in the bus in some way. The fact speaks for itself that he was hurt seriously on two parts of the body, and the kind of injury he received could not be received in any manner except as described by him. The fact that [244]*244others were not thrown from their seats by the sudden turning and stopping of the bus does not argue that he was not. Serious.

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Bluebook (online)
135 So. 740, 17 La. App. 241, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mahfouz-v-interurban-trans-co-lactapp-1931.