Prunty v. Tyler Traction Co.

110 S.E. 570, 90 W. Va. 194, 1922 W. Va. LEXIS 213
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 7, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 110 S.E. 570 (Prunty v. Tyler Traction Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Prunty v. Tyler Traction Co., 110 S.E. 570, 90 W. Va. 194, 1922 W. Va. LEXIS 213 (W. Va. 1922).

Opinion

Ritz, Judge:

By this writ of error the defendant seeks reversal of a judgment in favor of the plaintiff for damages for a personal injury sustained by him by being run over by one of the defendant’s street cars operated over one of the streets of the city of Middlebourne.

[197]*197The defendant company operated an interurban electric railway line extending from Sistersville, in the county of Tyler, to and over the main street of the city of Middle-bonrne in said county. On the 26th of September, 1918, the plaintiff, an infant three years, three months and twenty-six days old, was struck by one of the defendant’s cars upon the main street of said city of Middlebourne, and received injuries which resulted in the loss of a part of one of his feet.

The equipment operated by the defendant company at the time of the injury consisted of a passenger car attached to which was a freight car called a trailer. The motive power was electricity and was applied to the passenger car only, the freight car being either pulled or pushed by the passenger car, depending upon the order in which the cars, were operated. On the occasion of the accident two cars joined together had come from Sistersville to Middlebourne, the passenger car in front being operated by a motorman on the front end thereof. The run was continued in this order along Main Street in the city of Middlebourne, the ears stopping at such places as there was freight to unload or passengers to alight, until the terminus of the line was reached at a point near the courthouse in said city. When this point was reached the motion of the cars was reversed, and they were run in the opposite direction to what is known as Broad Street, at which point there is a switch running out to a freight station. The cars were run out on this switch and the freight remaining unloaded in the freight station. The position of the cars in relation to each other was then reversed so that on the return trip to Sistersville the passenger car would be in front and the freight car behind, and preparatory to starting on this return trip the cars were again run out on the main line and backed on Main Street with the freight car in front and the passenger car shoving it in order to pick up passengers and freight between the point where they came on the main line and the courthouse. While thus backing down the street toward the courthouse with the, freight car in front, as the cars were then running, the plaintiff was struck at a point just [198]*198opposite his home, one of the wheels of the car running over one of his feet, so badly crushing it that part of it had to be removed.

It seems that a man by the name of Smith who owns a Ford touring car had gone with the plaintiff’s father and the plaintiff and his sister, another child of tender years, into the country on the day of the injury, and had just returned. The plaintiff’s father brought back a sack of apples. He had gotten out of the automobile and had crossed the street to his house. Mr. Smith, the owner of the car, had also gotten out, and the plaintiff, instead of going with his father across the street to his home, remained for a short time with Mr. Smith. Smith testifies as a witness that the boy walked around the automobile with him, and that he walked past the front end thereof for the purpose of turning into an alley to the rear of his premises, and that just as he was turning into this alley he turned his head toward the street ear track and saw the plaintiff thereon with the cars approaching within a few feet of him. He immediately made an outcry and ran to the boy and succeeded in jerking him off the track, but not in saving him from injury, one of the wheels of the freight car on the side next to Smith catching the boy’s foot and mashing it off.

The contention of the defendant company is that it was not negligent in the operation of the cars over the track in the manner above indicated. At the time of the accident there was no one on the freight car. The motorman on the passenger car was on the front end thereof, and on the side opposite to that upon which the boy entered upon the track, but contends that he was looking ahead on that side. On the front end of the passenger car on the same side upon which the boy entered upon the track it seems that there were two employes of the defendant stationed. These employes were standing on the lower step of the passenger ear looking ahead, and one of them who testified as a witness, the other being dead, says that he was looking ahead and saw this boy coming from immediately in front of the automobile and called to the motorman to stop; that the emergency brake was immediately applied, and that the car stop[199]*199ped -within a very few feet; that the boy came from in front of the automobile only a few feet in front of the freight ear, and that the ears could not be stopped in time to avoid the accident. On the other hand, witnesses testify for the plaintiff that the point at which the boy came upon the track was quite a little distance from the front of the automobile. Mr. Smith who had a better view of the accident than anyone else measured the distance afterwards, and says that it was about 25 feet from the front of the automobile to the point on the curb where the boy crossed the street, and about 36 feet from the front of the automobile to the point on the track where the accident happened. In this he is corroborated by other witnesses. Upon the trial of the case the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for .the sum of $4500.00, upon which the court rendered judgment.

One of the principal assignments of error is based upon the refusal of the court to permit the plaintiff’s mother, upon cross-examination, to answer certain questions in regard to what instructions and advice had been given the boy in regard to crossing the street in front of the street car, and to the action of the court in instructing the jury that the plaintiff could not be guilty under the circumstances of contributory negligence, and refusing to instruct the jury that, they might find him so guilty. The evidence rejected upon this point, if it can be said to be at all material, was sought to be introduced by cross-examination of the plaintiff’s mother introduced as a witness on his behalf. It was in no. sense pertinent to anything she had testified about in chief,, and for this reason alone it was not error for the court to reject the evidence. State v. Hatfield, 48 W. Va. 561. The-defendant, however, was permitted upon cross-examination to examine the boy’s mother as to his capacity and generalmental fitness. She testified in answer to questions of defendant’s counsel that while the boy was rather “babyish”' she thought he possessed the intelligence of the average boy of his age. It is earnestly insisted by the defendant that under the facts shown the question, whether the child was guilty of contributory negligence, should have been left to* [200]*200the jury, and an instruction was offered by the defendant upon this theory of the case, which the court refused to give, but did give an instruction for the plaintiff in effect telling the jury that he could not be guilty of contributory negligence under the circumstances. It is argued by the defendant’s counsel that in no case is it proper for the court to declare as matter of law that a child, because of his youth, may or may not be guilty of contributory negligence barring a recovery for an injury, while for the plaintiff it is contended that this Court has held in many cases, which are cited, that children of very tender years cannot be guilty of such negligence, and in the case of

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Buckley v. Valley Camp Coal Co.
324 F.2d 244 (Fourth Circuit, 1963)
Buckley v. Valley Camp Coal Company
324 F.2d 244 (Fourth Circuit, 1963)
Armstead v. Holbert
122 S.E.2d 43 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1961)
Morgan v. Leuck
72 S.E.2d 825 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1952)
Peterson v. Minneapolis Street Railway Co.
53 N.W.2d 817 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1952)
Virginian Ry. Co. v. Armentrout
158 F.2d 358 (Fourth Circuit, 1946)
Wright v. Minneapolis Street Railway Co.
23 N.W.2d 347 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1946)
Mazzocchi v. Seay
29 S.E.2d 12 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1944)
Bowman v. Monongahela West Penn Public Service Co.
21 S.E.2d 148 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1942)
Craft v. Fordson Coal Co.
171 S.E. 886 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1933)
Pierson v. Liming
167 S.E. 131 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1932)
Curfman v. Monongahela West Penn Public Service Co.
166 S.E. 848 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1932)
Hendricks v. Monongahela West Penn Public Service Co.
163 S.E. 411 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1932)
State v. Newman
132 S.E. 728 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1926)
State v. Spurr
130 S.E. 81 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1925)
McCallam v. Hope Natural Gas Co.
117 S.E. 148 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 S.E. 570, 90 W. Va. 194, 1922 W. Va. LEXIS 213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prunty-v-tyler-traction-co-wva-1922.