Rush v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.

137 S.W. 1029, 157 Mo. App. 504, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 417
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 29, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 137 S.W. 1029 (Rush v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rush v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co., 137 S.W. 1029, 157 Mo. App. 504, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 417 (Mo. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

— This is a negligence case. An automobile in which plaintiff was a passenger for- hire “was struck at a street crossing by an east-bound electric [507]*507street car operated by defendant on its Twelfth street line in Kansas City and plaintiff was thrown to the pavement and injured. The petition alleges that “the party operating and managing the automobile in which plaintiff was riding, not knowing of the approach of defendant’s car, drove said automobile onto Twelfth street and onto the track of defendant’s railway thereon, •and while he was driving one of defendant’s said cars •approached at a rapid speed from the west, and the mo-f orman controlling the same gave no warning of his approach and though he saw, or in the exercise of ordinary care might have seen, the position of danger in which the persons in said automobile were placed in time to have stopped said cars and prevented a collision with said automobile, he made no effort to do so, but negligently and carelessly continued said car at the same high speed until it with great force and violence ran against said automobile, and by reason of said collision the plaintiff, without any fault or negligence on his part, was thrown from said automobile onto the pavement of said streets.” Among the special damages alleged in the petition was loss of earnings valued at one thousand dollars.

The answer is a general traverse. A trial in the cim cuit court resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of fifteen hundred dollars and the cause is before us on the appeal of defendant.

The' injury occurred late in the afternoon of July 11, 1908, at the intersection of Twelfth and Central ■streets. Plaintiff is a lawyer practicing his profession in New York City, belongs to Tammany Hall and, together with -other members of that organization, attended the Democratic National Convention held in Denver in July, 1908. Realizing that arid wastes were to be traversed, necessary supplies were carried on the journey but on the return trip via Kansas City, no liquid sustenance stronger than mineral water was •served after the train emerged from the alkaline stretches of Western Kansas. A stop-over in Kansas City of [508]*508two and one-half hours was scheduled and plaintiff and’ his close companions (seven in all) planned to spend the time going about the city and made careful preparations to present a good appearance. The seven came up town in a street car which they left at Ninth and Main streets: and, encountering an automobile of the type known as a public sight-seeing car, they struck a bargain with the chauffeur and, paying the fare demanded, were taken aboard and transported over the city.

Riding in the open air engenders thirst and on their return from “doing” the boulevards, a stop was made-at the Baltimore hotel where all alighted, went to timbar and each took one drink. All. chose beer as the best thirst-quencher except plaintiff and the chauffeur who-stuck to mineral water — a drink that neither cheers-nor inebriates. Finding they still had some spare time, a suggestion was offered and adopted that they ride-around to Convention Hall and view the place where-Mr. Bryan was nominated for the presidency in 1900. It must be confessed that the route followed in reaching-the building was devious, but we give little weight to-that fact and for the purposes of the demurrer to the evidence, which counsel for defendant contend should have been given, accept as true the testimony of the seven that individually and collectively they were sober, quiet, and well-behaved and were not intoxicated and disorderly as some of defendant’s witnesses describe their condition.

No doubt the recollection of the consequences following the stirring scenes enacted in that building in the fateful year of 1900 made them all feel sober, and careful, too. Ftom Convention Hall the automobile turned north on Central street and proceeded towards the crossing under consideration. There is much conflict in the evidence over the character of the automobile and its speed as it neared the crossing. According to witnesses for defendant “not lighter does the swallow skim along the smooth lake’s level brim,” than did the.machine glide [509]*509towards its doom, Avliile witnesses for plaintiff spoke disrespectfully of the vehicle and one of the seven called it “an old tub.” They say it toiled slowly and painfully along at not to exceed six miles per. hour. We shall not say the evidence of plaintiff is unreasonable; to do so would require us not only to repudiate the testimony •of apparently credible witnesses, but to speak in terms of too great praise of “sight-seeing” automobiles. From the viewpoint of the demurrer to the evidence we must .give full credit to the evidence of plaintiff and discard nothing except that which overtaxes credulity. Consequently, we assume that the automobile was running six miles per hour when it started across the track. A double-truck street car equipped with air brakes and other modern appliances was approaching from the Avest •on the south track. Witnesses differ about the speed of that car but the general opinion is that its speed was twelve miles per hour. Expert evidence introduced by plaintiff states that the street car could have been stopped in twenty-five or thirty feet, while that of defendant is that a stop could not have been made in less than •seventy-five feet.

There Avas no obstacle to prevent the motorman seeing the automobile or the chauffeur from seeing the street car. It is conceded the chauffeur approached the ■crossing without altering the speed of his car and it appears to us that he depended on the. care of the motorman for the safety of his passengers. His confidence was misplaced for, according to the evidence of plaintiff, the •street car came on without slackening speed and the motorman did nothing to avert a collision. The street •car struck the automobile squarely in the side and pushed it along the track until the car stopped. ■ Just before the collision the motorman sounded the gong and began stopping-the car. The collision hurled plaintiff to the pavement and he was severely injured. The witnesses do not agree on the subject of the distance of the street car from the-place of the collision at the time the chauffeur [510]*510disclosed his intention of crossing ahead of the car and thereby imperiling his passengers, bnt we are willing to accept as true' the statement of the motorman that he. was about thirty feet west of the west property line of Central street when he first noticed the automobile and realized the likelihood and danger of the chauffeur-attempting to cross ahead of the car. Central street is-, sixty feet wide, the automobile was running on a line-just east of the middle of the street and, therefore, the-testimony of the motorman places his car about sixty feet west of the place of collision when he discovered the-peril of plaintiff. He states that immediately he began-ringing the bell, threw on the air1 brakes and, after the-car had run, perhaps fifteen feet, reversed the current..

We think the trial court committed no error in-overruling the demurrer to the evidence. Of the negligence of the chauffeur in running his passengers into-a perilous situation, there can be no question, but plaintiff was a passenger of the chauffeur, had no control’ over the automobile and was thrown into danger with- - out an opportunity to save himself or even to object to-the conduct of the chauffeur.

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Bluebook (online)
137 S.W. 1029, 157 Mo. App. 504, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 417, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rush-v-metropolitan-street-railway-co-moctapp-1911.