Schmelzer v. Carnie-Goudie Manufacturing Co.

271 S.W. 829, 219 Mo. App. 389
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 4, 1925
StatusPublished

This text of 271 S.W. 829 (Schmelzer v. Carnie-Goudie Manufacturing 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
Schmelzer v. Carnie-Goudie Manufacturing Co., 271 S.W. 829, 219 Mo. App. 389 (Mo. Ct. App. 1925).

Opinions

ARNOLD, J.

This is an action to recover damages for personal injuries.

Defendant is a corporation engaged in manufacturing business in Kansas City, Mo., and in connection therewith operates motor trucks. Wyandotte street and Thirteenth street in Kansas • City intersect at right angles, the former running north and south, the latter east and west. Wyandotte street is thirty-six feet, ten inches from curb to curb and there are double street car tracks thereon. The distance from the west rail of the west, or southbound track, to the west curb is eleven feet. Plaintiff testified that on May 11, 1920, at about 12:30 p. m. he was walking west on the sidewalk .on the south side of Thirteenth street on his way to attend a directors’ meeting at Convention Plall which is at the N. E. corner of Thirteenth and Central streets, and one block west of the intersection above mentioned. As he stepped from the sidewalk to cross Wyandotte street he looked to the north and did not see any automobile coming from that direction, and that he started across at an ordinary gait estimated at three to four miles per hour; that when he reached the west rail of the southbound track, he discovered one of defendant’s trucks being driven south on Wyandotte street, that it was within a foot of him when he first noticed it; that he jumped to avoid being struck but was only partially successful; that he was struck by the right fender of the truck, knocked down and the right front wheel of the truck ran upon his ankle, injuring him. He testified he did not hear any horn or other warning sounded; that he was looking south at the moment of the accident, that he was directly in the path of the truck and oblivious of his peril.

The record shows the truck was designed for hauling awnings, and had an extended body with a cab over *391 the driver’s seat. The driver and two other employees of defendant were in the driver’s seat. The truck went south astride the west rail of the southbound track at a speed estimated at ten to fifteen miles per hour and on reaching Thirteenth street, it slowed down to about five or six miles per hour and proceeded across the intersection at that speed. The day was clear, the streets dry, and the testimony shows there were no obstructions to the driver’s view.

The petition alleges negligence in the following respects: Excessive speed under the circumstances, failure to keep a vigilant watch, failure to keep the truck under control; driving on the wrong side of the street, failure to stop the truck, slacken speed, swerve to one side, or give warning of approach. Negligence is also alleged under the humanitarian rule.

The answer is a general denial and a plea of contributory negligence. The reply is a general denial and thus were the issues joined. The cause was tried to a jury and at the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence, the record shows the following proceedings ensued:

“Me. Welch: (Low tone to the court): I do not think the plaintiff has got a case.
“The Couet: The jury may be excused to the hall.
“Thereupon the court heard counsel on question of a demurrer to the plaintiff’s evidence, Dr. Robinson arriving in the meantime.
“ (Jury returned to the jury box.)
‘ ‘ The Court : (To the clerk). Leave given to plaintiff to amend petition as to the amount. At the conclusion of the evidence, on the intimation of the court that the demurrer to the evidence would be sustained, plaintiff thereupon takes an involuntary non-suit with leave to move to set same aside.
“And to which action and ruling of the court, the plaintiff then and there at the time duly excepted and still excepts.
*392 “The jury was thereupon discharged from further consideration of the case.”

Thereupon plaintiff filed a motion to set aside the involuntary nonsuit, alleging (1) that under the pleadings, the law and the evidence, plaintiff .was entitled to have his cause submitted to the jury; (2) that the court erred in announcing he was about to sustain a demurrer to the evidence; (3) that plaintiff made a case for the jury. The said motion was overruled and plaintiff appeals from the action of the court in overruling said motion.

Three assignments of error are before us, viz., (1) that the court erred in marking' defendant’s peremptory instruction “given” and announcing that he was about to give said instruction; (2) in refusing to submit the cause to the jury, and (3) in overruling the motion to set aside, the involuntary nonsuit. Using these assignments as a basis, plaintiff presents his brief and argument in support thereof.

Defendant, in its brief, directly attacks plaintiff’s abstract of the record in that under the heading “Judgment” appears the following:

“On the 20th day of May, 1924, during the said May term, 1924, the plaintiff concluded the introduction of his evidence and then rested his case and thereupon the defendant prayed the court to give to the jury a peremptory instruction in the nature of a demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence, which said peremptory instruction' was by the court marked ‘Given’- and said court announced that he was about to give said peremptory instruction so prayed by the defendant as aforesaid and refused to submit the cause to the jury on the instruction as asked by plaintiff, to which said rulings and actions of the court and each of them the plaintiff then and there excepted; thereupon plaintiff took an involuntary nonsuit with leave to move to set the same aside, all of which is shown by a record entry made at the time. ’ ’

*393 Defendant states that the transcript shows, under the certificate of the clerk, the following record entry:

“8th day of May Term, 1924. May 20,1924.
“Now on this day come again the same parties and the same jury herein and the trial of this cause resumed, and at the close of the evidence on behalf of the plaintiff, plaintiff by leave of court first had amends his petition by reducing the amount asked for in his prayer from the sum of $30,000, to $7500, and the court at this time intimating it would sustain a demurrer to said evidence, thereupon plaintiff takes and suffers an involuntary non-suit with leave to move to set the same aside and the jury is by the court discharged.
“Wherefore, it is ordered and adjudged by the court that plaintiff have an involuntary nonsuit with leave to move to set the same aside, and that defendants go hence discharged without day and to have and recover of and from the plaintiff their costs and have therefor execution.”

It is defendant’s position that plaintiff’s bill of exceptions is insufficient to show any right of appeal, and that the judgment therefore must be affirmed-. In McDonnell v. Peck Dry Goods Co., 228 S. W. 759, it is held that the recital in the transcript, taken from the records of the court, certified by the clerk under seal of the court, is conclusive. If defendant is right in this view, consideration of the case on its merits is unnecessary.

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Bluebook (online)
271 S.W. 829, 219 Mo. App. 389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmelzer-v-carnie-goudie-manufacturing-co-moctapp-1925.