Midland Valley Railroad v. Gibson

1923 OK 834, 221 P. 100, 94 Okla. 193, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 504
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 23, 1923
Docket14304
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 1923 OK 834 (Midland Valley Railroad v. Gibson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Midland Valley Railroad v. Gibson, 1923 OK 834, 221 P. 100, 94 Okla. 193, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 504 (Okla. 1923).

Opinion

Opinion by

THOMPSON, C.

This action was commenced on. the 4th day of February, 1921, by defendant in error filing her petition against the plaintiff in error, the Midland Valley Railway Company, a corporation, in the district court of Tulsa county, Okla., to recover damages for personal injury, and on tlie 24th day of May, 1921, defendant in error filed, her amended petition in said court.

Parties will be hereafter referred to as plaintiff and defendant, as they appeared in the lower court.

Plaintiff alleges in her amended petition, in substance/ that on the Sth day of November, 1929, she went to the wareroom of defendant by invitation of the a,gent of said company to identify a shipment of books, and that while .she and the agent were counting the books another agent, or employe, of said company .negligently, wantonly, and in gross disregard of the life and safety of the plaintiff, raised and displaced, managed, and handled a heavy hogshead, throwing the said hogshead with great force and violence upon the plaintiff, thereby crushing and mangling her left foot, and crushing and breaking the bones of said foot, and permanently injuring and crippling her, and as a result thereof her foot became and remained enlarged, rendering ber incapable of wearing the same size shoe on the injured foot (hat she wears on the other foot, and that said injury rendered her unable to work or transact her business^ that she suffered and'still suffers great pain 'of body and anguish of mind, and claims damages; that she has expended, for hospital fees and medical treatment, the sum of $260; that three years before she had been engaged in teaching music .and dancing, hut for. the past three years she was engaged as general agent for sale of hooks, and salesmanship teacher, with headquarters at Chicago, Ill.; that, at the time of said injury herein complained of, she was earning, and that her earning capacity was, $5,000 per annum; that the injury complained of rendered her unable to perform the duties, either as teacher or gener *195 al agent, and that she still remains so incapacitated, and is permanently crippled and disabled, and concludes the petition with a prayer for $10,000 damages and costs.

The answer of defendant is a general denial and a plea of contributory negligence on part of the plaintiff.

Upon these issues the cause proceeded to trial before a jury, on the 39th day of December, 1922, resulting in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $1,500, and after a motion for a new trial was filed and overruled and exceptions' reserved, the court, on the 8th day of January, 1923, pronounced judgment upon the verdict of the jury for the amount of $1,500, and the cause comes regularly upon appeal by the defendant to this court from said judgment.

The attorneys for defendant in their brief set up six specifications of error, as follows:

“1. The trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant.
“2. The trial court erred in instructing the jury as to the measure of damages.
“3. The trial court erred in refusing to give to the jury instruction number 3 requested by the defendant.
“4. The trail court erred in refusing to give to the jury instruction number 6 requested by the defendant.
“5. The trial court erred in overruling the motion of the defendant for a new trial.
“6. The trial court erred in rendering judgment in favor of the plaintiff.”

In view of the assignments of error set up in brief of defendant, it will be necessary to review somewhat in detail the testimony in- this case. The plaintiff testified, in substance, that this injury occurred on the 8th day of November, 1920, and that she did not commence work regularly thereafter until March 14, 1921; that she was confined in the hospital, under treatment, for several days and afterwards taken to her home where she was confined for several weeks, under a doctor’s care, after which -she went around on crutches until about the 7th day of January, 1021; that three of her toes, at least, were broken, all of the nails on the crushed foot were mashed off; that the foot was badly swollen and discolored, and that she suffered great bodily pain and mental anguish from the injury, and on the proposition whether the injury was permanent or not she testified that the injured foot was enlarged, so that she had to wear a shoe one size larger than she had to wear on the other foot; that even yet, at the time of the trial, which was over two years after the injury was sustained, her foot still hurt her regularly at all times; that she can not sleep well; that if she stepped on the sidewalk with the injured foot and did not get all the injured foot on the sidewalk she was sure to fall because all her toes were weak. She further testified, in regard to how the accident occurred, that she was standing next to the hogshead, which crushed her foot; counting her books, and that Vaught, the agent of the company, was about one foot from the hogshead, and that he pulled something out from under the hogshead, letting the hogshead- drop on her foot, and he stepped away five or six f eet, having .in .his hands a truck by both handles, the truck having a noset under it, which is used to insert under a bale, barrel, or bundle, and gave as her opinion that this was what he ■pulled out -from under the hogshead. Upon cross-examination by defendants counsel she was asked these questions with reference to where Vaught was standing;

“Q. * * * Was he as far as six feet from it? A. No, sir; it was not a foot away fr< m it. Q. Was not a foot away from it — now, when he pulled out this truck from under the barrel, it fell on your toe —that is right, is it? A. Yes, sir.”

And she further testified:

“A. * * * I screamed and Mr. Mason looked up aistonished to know what was the matter and I says, ‘you dropped this barrel on my foot.’ Mr. Mason proceeds to say, ‘Mr. Vaught, you should be more careful,’ and at that Mr. Mason and Mr. Vaught lifted the barrel off my foot.’’ (Mr. Mason, referred to, is the agent who -went with plaintiff to identify the consignment of books, and Mr. Vaught, referred to, is the .checking clerk of the defendant, as is disclosed by the evidence.)

The plaintiff further testified as to her earning capacity and her loss from being incapacitated by reason of the injury, from looking -after the business in which she was employed.

Dr. Flynn, witness for plaintiff, testified that he attended on the plaintiff, and that he found; her suffering from three broken toes; that he X-rayed the foot and found broken toes and broken bones; that her foot was swollen, and that her toes and foot were bruised, and that the injury was necessarily painful; and gave as his opinion that it would take an injury of this char--acter three or four weeks to heal, and that the injured condition, or sensitive condition. of the toes would, in his judgment, last about two months; that it was pretty hard to say and that there was necessarily *196 a great deal of mental and physical pain connected with an injury of that kind.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1923 OK 834, 221 P. 100, 94 Okla. 193, 1923 Okla. LEXIS 504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midland-valley-railroad-v-gibson-okla-1923.