Reno v. City of St. Joseph

70 S.W. 123, 169 Mo. 642, 1902 Mo. LEXIS 305
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedOctober 27, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 70 S.W. 123 (Reno v. City of St. Joseph) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reno v. City of St. Joseph, 70 S.W. 123, 169 Mo. 642, 1902 Mo. LEXIS 305 (Mo. 1902).

Opinion

BURGESS, J.

— This is an action for damages alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff on the thirtieth day of January, 1898, by slipping and falling on the sidewalk on Eighteenth street in defendant city.

At the time of the accident the snow and ice had accumulated on the sidewalk and the people in walking over it had tramped the snow, down in the middle of the walk so that a ridge was formed from three to six inches high, and from one foot to eighteen inches wide, and sloping from the center toward the edges or sides of the ridge, and the thawing and freezing made the ridge of snow and ice slippery, rough and uneven. It had been in that condition for about thirty days —all through the month of January. On that day the plaintiff and her daughter, Minnie Reno, and her neighbor, Mrs. Moran, and her daughter May Moran, passed down and over said street. As they returned home they walked upon the sidewalk in question; they were traveling along in single file, one after another, the plaintiff in the rear, following along or behind the others who led the way. They had traveled some blocks on the sidewalk and experienced no difficulty, before they came to the walk where plaintiff fell, but when they came to this particular piece of sidewalk, going north, the plaintiff, in attempting to pass over it, stepped on the ridge of snow and ice and slipped and fell down, her feet going out towards the east side of the walk and her head toward the west, striking her hip and thigh on the ridge across which she fell, and thereby received the injuries to the sciatic nerve complained of, disabling and crippling her for life. She was picked up and carried home, and was confined to her bed several weeks, suffering excruciating pain by reason of the injury to the sciatic nerve.

The accident happened on January 30, 1898; the plain[648]*648tiff served a notice upon the mayor on March 24, 1898, within .sixty days of the occurrence, stating the time when and the place where the injury occurred, and the character and circumstances of the injury, and that she would claim damages from the city for said injuries. This notice was in writing and verified by the plaintiff’s affidavit.

At the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence the defendant asked the court to instruct the jury as follows:

' “The court instructs the jury that under the pleadings and evidence in this case the plaintiff can not recover, and your verdict will be for the defendant.”

The court refused said instruction, 'to which action of the court defendant then and there at the time excepted.

After all of the evidence was in the court, on behalf of the plaintiff, instructed the jury as follows:

“1. The court instructs the jury that it was the duty of the city defendant to keep its sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition for travel thereon in the ordinary modes, hy day or by night, and if the jury believe from a preponderance of the evidence that by reason of the accumulation of snow and ice and the formation of a ridge or rough and uneven surface on the sidewalk of snow and ice at the time and place where plaintiff claims to have been injured on the west side of North Eighteenth street in- front of house No. 1.008 in the city of St. Joseph, the said sidewalk had become and was in an unsafe condition for travel thereon by day or night, and that defendant’s corporate authorities knew or might by the exercise of ordinary care and diligence have biown of the unsafe condition thereof in a reasonable time to have removed said snow and ice and repair said walk before the alleged injury of the plaintiff and that while plaintiff was walking on said sidewalk where it was so defective and unsafe, she slipped 'and fell down upon the sidewalk without fault or want of ordinary care on her part, and she was thereby injured, 'then the jury must find for the plaintiff, although [649]*649•■the jury may further believe from the evidence that plaintiff knew of the alleged defect in said sidewalk, or condition thereof.

“2. The court instructs the jury that if they believe from the evidence that snow had fallen upon the sidewalk and persons traveling on said sidewalk packed it down so that it formed a ridge or rough and uneven surface on the sidewalk and in consequence thereof said sidewalk was not reasonably safe for travel thereon in the ordinary modes, then it was out of repair and defective within the meaning of the instructions in this case, and if said defective condition of the sidewalk had existed for such length of time prior to the alleged injury of plaintiff that the corporate authorities of the city could and ought to have known its condition, in the exercise'of ordinary care and diligence, in a reasonable time to have repaired the sáme by removing said ice and ridge before the alleged injury to plaintiff, and failed to do so, then the city was negligent and is responsible in damages for any injury that may have been caused to plaintiff by reason thereof, provided plaintiff was in the exercise of ordinary ■care herself.

“3. The jury are instructed that if they believe from the evidence that the sidewalk in question was unsafe by reason of the accumulation of snow and ice on said sidewalk as mentioned in other instructions herein at the time and place when and where plaintiff claims to have been injured, and that it had been so unsafe for such length of time as by reasonable diligence and care in the performance of their duties its condition ought to have been known by the corporate •authorities in a reasonable time to have removed the said snow ■ and ice therefrom before said alleged injury to plaintiff; then notice to defendant of its condition will be presumed and proof of actual knowledge thereof upon the part of said corporate authorities will not be necessary, and if said sidewalk were permitted to be and remain unsafe under such [650]*650circumstances, then the said corporate authorities were negligent and the defendant city is responsible for said negligence.

“4. Unless the jury believe from all the evidence, facts- and circumstances in proof that plaintiff was guilty of some act of negligence which an ordinarily prudent person would not have done under similar circumstances in the use of said sidewalk which contributed proximately toward causing-said injury to plaintiff, the jury should not find against the plaintiff on the ground of contributory negligence set up-in the defendant’s answer; and although plaintiff may have known the condition of the sidewalk, the law did not require of her the exercise of extraordinary care in passing and traveling on said walk, but only that she exercise such care and prudence as an ordinarily prudent person would have exercised under like circumstances.'

“5. ' The jury are instructed that they are the judges of the evidence and credibility of the witnesses, and may give to the testimony of any witness such weight as they may deem it entitled to under all the facts and circumstances in proof, and in determining what weight they will give to the testimony of any.witnesses and in reconciling the conflicting testimony, if there be any, the jury are not confined alone to- the statements of the witnesses, but may take into' consideration their own experience and observations in the common affairs of life.

“6.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 S.W. 123, 169 Mo. 642, 1902 Mo. LEXIS 305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reno-v-city-of-st-joseph-mo-1902.