Morris v. La Bahn

194 Iowa 377
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedSeptember 23, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 194 Iowa 377 (Morris v. La Bahn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morris v. La Bahn, 194 Iowa 377 (iowa 1922).

Opinion

Arthur, J.

I. Facts necessary to be stated in the first instance are: On the morning* of August 23, 1920, appellee was a passenger in a cab operated by the appellant Walter La Bahn, the driver being Georgé Echinroade. While a passenger in said cab, being driven to her destination, at the intersection of Nebraska and Fourth Streets in Sioux City, Iowa, the taxicab in which appellee was riding came into collision with a taxicab owned by appellant Yellow Taxicab Company, coming from the north, on Nebraska Street. Fourth Street runs east and west, and Nebraska Street extends north and south. In the collision, the cab in which appellee was riding was violently smashed and overturned, and appellee was precipitated to the floor of the cab with force and violence, and suffered injuries. She alleges that she suffered severe bruises, contusions, nervous shock, and injury to her back, spine, and kidneys, and particularly suffered contusion in the pelvic region, causing traumatic sacro-iliac dislocation of the ilium and sacrum, was rendered unconscious, and was removed to a hospital. .She alleges that the injuries were painful and severe, causing her much pain and mental and physical distress and pain in the affected parts, particularly in the region of the sacro-iliac dislocation; and that she had been under the care of physicians ever since her injury, and had been obliged to be. put into a harness, or adhesive straps, in an endeavor to bring about a proper union of the dislocated parts ; and that she will continue* to suffer pain and weakness in the affected parts, and that the sacro-iliac injury is permanent; that, by reason of said injury, she was for some time totally incapacitated from pursuing her usual vocation, which was that of proprietor and housekeeper of the Capital Hotel, and that she would continue to be almost wholly unfitted and incapacitated from performing her usual work and labor; that, prior to said injury, she was a strong, healthy woman, — never had suffered from any traumatic injury nor from any nervous trouble; but that since, she has continuously suffered from nervous strain and shock, has suffered attacks of nervous prostration and hysteria, and will continue to so suffer for an indefinite time in the future.

Appellee alleged that the accident and collision and consequent injuries were caused by the concurrent negligence of the [379]*379drivers of each of tlie taxicabs in operating and driving their respective cars at a dangerous, unlawful, and reckless rate of speed, and in not observing due care and caution in the operation of the same, and in not keeping a proper lookout to avoid collisions at street intersections. Alleging, separately and particularly, negligence of the Yellow Taxicab Company, appellee states that, notwithstanding that' said intersection at Fourth Street and Nebraska Street was a dangerous one, where other vehicles ivere likely to be encountered at any time, and where the view was obstructed by high buildings on each corner, built flush with the lot lines, the driver of the yellow cab approached the intersection at a dangerous and reckless rate of speed, in excess of 30 miles an hour, and struck the cab in which she was riding with such force and speed as to upset it; that said yellow taxicab was not being driven “in a careful and prudent manner, and at a rate of speed that would not endanger the life or limb of any person,1 ’ as by law required; that the driver of the yellow taxicab approached said intersection without giving any warning of his approach, did not have his car under control, did not reduce the speed of his ear to a reasonable and proper rate, as required by law; but that, on the contrary, when he saw that a collision was imminent, he made no attempt to stop or reduce the speed of his ear, in order to avoid a collision, until after he was within a few feet of the car in which appellee was riding, and did not attempt to avoid a collision by turning his car to the left, so as to clear the other car.

Alleging negligence particularly as to the driver of the La Bahn car, in which she was riding, she states that the driver of the car was negligent in that he failed to so operate, manage, and run the same as to safely carry the plaintiff to her destination, without harm and injury; and that the driver of said car was not operating the same in a careful and prudent manner and at a rate of speed that would not injure the life or limb of any person, as the law required.

She -claims items of damages for doctors, medicines, bandaging, and adhesive strapping treatments in the sum of $200, and stated that she would continue to require such surgical and medical treatment for an indefinite time in -the future; ‘ ‘ that the reasonable value of plaintiff’s services to herself in the [380]*380avocation in which she was engaged, to wit, proprietor and housekeeper of the Capital Hotel, is $26 per week; and that plaintiff was totally incapacitated from performing any such services for a period of six weeks after said accident, and was obliged to hire a woman to perform such services, and has been damaged, on account of such loss of earning capacity, in the sum of $156; that, since said injury, she has been unable to perform the usual work and labor attendant upon her duties as housekeeper, and will continue to be unable to perform such work and labor for' an indefinite time in the future; that her inability to perform her usual work and labor is of a permanent character, and is the result of said injury; and that she has been damaged thereby in the sum of $3,000.”

For physical and mental suffering, past and prospective, she demanded the sum-of $2,000.

Appellant Yellow Taxicab Company denied generally the allegations of appellee, and alleged that the injuries which plaintiff suffered were caused solely by the negligence of appellant La Bahn, and the manner in which his car was operated.

Appellant La Bahn denied the allegations of the petition, and alleged that the cause of the accident was the negligence of appellant Yellow Taxicab Company, and stated the particular negligence of which he charges that the driver of the Yellow Taxicab Company was guilty, as follows: That the yellow taxicab was operated in a careless and negligent manner, and that, at the time of the collision, the yellow taxicab was being driven at a high and reckless rate of speed, not less than 30 miles an hour; that the yellow taxicab was being driven in a manner contrary to the ordinances of the city of Sioux City, in that it was being driven at a rate of speed prohibited by said ordinance; that the driver of the yellow taxicab could have avoided the accident, up to the actual collision; but that the driver of the yellow taxicab recklessly and negligently attempted to drive the said automobile upon and across the intersection at Fourth and Nebraska Streets, when the driver of the Walter La Bahn cab, in the exercise of due care, had already started to cross, and had almost completed the-crossing of said intersection; that the yel-low1? taxicab was at least 50 yards from said intersection at the time that the La Bahn automobile commenced to cross the in[381]

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Bluebook (online)
194 Iowa 377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morris-v-la-bahn-iowa-1922.