Sharp v. National Biscuit Co.

78 S.W. 787, 179 Mo. 553, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 31
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedFebruary 10, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 78 S.W. 787 (Sharp v. National Biscuit Co.) 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
Sharp v. National Biscuit Co., 78 S.W. 787, 179 Mo. 553, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 31 (Mo. 1904).

Opinion

MARSHALL, J.

— This is an action, under the statute, for damages, caused to the plaintiffs by the death of their infant son, George Calvin Sharp, five years of age, by being run over by one of defendant’s wagons, on July 18, 1899, on Sixth street, between McGee and Oak streets, in Kansas City. The plaintiffs recovered a judgment for fifteen hundred dollars,, and the defendant appealed.

The negligence charged in the petition is that the driver of the wagon compelled the child to jump from the wagon, and in consequence he was run over and killed. The answer is a general denial, with special pleas of [557]*557contributory negligence of the child, and of the parents, the plaintiffs, in allowing the child to be on the street, and of trespass by the child upon the defendant’s wagon. The reply is a general denial.

I.

The accident occurred on July 18, 1899, on Sixth street, near Oak street, and nearly in front of the stores of High and Lutz. The wagon was a heavy bread wagon. The body of the wagon was raised about three feet above the ground, and had doors on each side, with steps extending toward the ground. The driver’s seat was near the front and had a hood over it, with glass windows on each side. The driver was delivering bread and stopped in front of the stores aforesaid. Sixth street runs east and west, and he stopped his wagon oh the south side of the street, with the team fronting west. He was in the stores quite a while, and while there, a number of boys were climbing on the wagon. Some neighbors ordered the boys to get off, which they did, but afterwards climbed on it again. When the driver came out of one of the stores to go into another, he saw the boys on the wagon and he said to one of them, Freddie Lutz, “Get off o-r I will kick you off.” The driver knew that the boys were in the habit of climbing on the wagon and the testimony for the defendant is that he carried a whip to drive the bigger boys off of the wagon, but he did not use it on the small boys. When the driver came out of the store he got on the wagon and drove off. WTien he had gotten about ten steps the deceased fell off of the wagon and was run over. The evidence is conflicting as to whether the deceased was on the step on the north side of the wagon at the time the driver got on the wagon, or whether he got on the step after the driver got on the wagon. It is also conflicting as to whether the driver knew that the deceased was on the step or not. The evidence on behalf of the [558]*558plaintiff is that the child was on the step and that the driver knew it, and said to him, ‘ Get off or I will knock yon off,” and that the child answered, “Wait a minute and I will, ’ ’ but that instead of waiting, the driver immediately started the team and cut back once or twice with, the whip at the child, and that the child dodged the blow and fell. The evidence for the defendant is that the child •got on the step after the driver got on the wagon, and that the driver did not know he was there, and by reason of the construction of the wagon and the hood over the driver’s seat he could not see the child, and that he did not say anything to the child and that he did not strike at him. The defendant’s evidence is conflicting as to whether he had a whip that day. By consent of the parties the wagon was brought to the court house and the jury permitted to examine it, and to test whether the driver could see the child on the step or not.

There was likewise a sharp conflict in the evidence as to whether the parents permitted the child to play in the street, and as to his proclivity to climb upon wagons. Nine witnesses testified for the plaintiffs, and thirteen for the defendant, exclusive of character witnesses. Most of them were eyewitnesses to the accident. Their testimony is as conflicting as it is possible for testimony to be. To draw it mildly, somebody was mistaken. The jury believed the plaintiff’s witnesses. Under such circumstances their finding of fact is conclusive on this court. [James v. Insurance Co., 148 Mo. 1.]

II.

The defendant contends that the plaintiffs’ instruction as to the measure of damages is erroneous, and bases the contention upon Hennessy v. Bavarian Brewing Co., 145 Mo. 104, which defendant says changed the law in this State.

The instruction told the jury that the measure of the plaintiffs’ damages was what their son would have [559]*559earned until he became twenty-one years old, minus the cost of his support, maintenance and clothes. It is claimed that the logic of Hennessy v. Bavarian Brewing Co., supra, is that this is not the proper measure of damages, but that the true rule is stated in Nagel v. Railroad, 75 Mo. l. c. 665, such amount as the jury deem fair and just. The language of the statute (see. 2866, R. S. 1899) which transmits the right to the parents in such cases, is, that, “the jury may give such damages, not exceeding five thousand dollars, as they may deem fair and just, with reference to the necessary injury resulting from such death, to the surviving parties who may be entitled to sue, and also having regard to the mitigating or aggravating circumstances attending such wrongful act, neglect or default. ’ ’

The case of Hennessy v. Bavarian Brewing Co., supra, did not involve the question of the measure of damages at all. The only question involved or decided in that case was, who is entitled to maintain an action under the statute for the death of a child under age? In that case, the mother of the child brought the suit. The child’s father was dead and the mother had married again, and the step-father had admitted the child into the family. It was contended that the mother could not sue because the step-father was entitled to the earnings of the child, and the step-father could not sue, because he was given no such right at common law or by the statute. It was held that the mother was entitled to sue, because the statute expressly conferred the right, and this too even if she was not entitled to the child’s earnings. The fact was referred to that some cases, under' statutes like ours, held that the measure of damages is the loss of services of the child, minus the expense of maintenance, plus the expense of medical attendance during the child’s last illness and of the funeral, but it was said that such considerations do not de-' termine who can maintain the action, an¿ the case of Parsons v. Railroad, 94 Mo. l. c. 296, was cited, wherein • [560]*560this court, per Brace, J., held that the right is a transmitted right and does not depend upon the question of loss of services.

But whilst this is true and while it is likewise true that in the cases of Nagel v. Railroad, 75 Mo. l. c. 665, and in Geismann v. Electric Co., 173 Mo. 654, this court approved instructions which were couched in the general language of the statute, and which made no reference to loss of services, it does not follow that the defendant is entitled to a reversal of this case because of the character of the instruction complained of.

The statute permits a recovery of “such damages as the jury deem fair, and just, with reference to the necessary injury resulting from such death, to the surviving parties who are entitled to sue.”

The court at the request of the plaintiff limited the damages in this case to the loss of the services less the support of the child, and at the request of the defendant excluded- anything for wounded feelings or grief.

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

Related

Mitchell v. Buchheit
559 S.W.2d 528 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1977)
Wann v. Reorganized School District No. 6 of St. Francois County
293 S.W.2d 408 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1956)
Brewer v. Rowe
252 S.W.2d 372 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1952)
Geneva Inv. Co. v. City of St. Louis, Mo.
87 F.2d 83 (Eighth Circuit, 1937)
State v. Anderson
166 A. 662 (New York Court of General Session of the Peace, 1933)
McGrew Coal Co. v. Mellon
287 S.W. 450 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1926)
State ex inf. Barker v. Duncan
175 S.W. 940 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1915)
Dalton v. St. Louis Smelting & Refining Co.
174 S.W. 468 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1915)
Hays v. Hogan
165 S.W. 1125 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1914)
McFarland v. Oregon Electric Ry. Co.
138 P. 458 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1914)
Howard v. Scarritt Estate Co.
144 S.W. 185 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1912)
City of King City v. Duncan
142 S.W. 246 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1911)
Lohnes v. Bakes
137 S.W. 282 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1911)
McGrew v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co.
132 S.W. 1076 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1910)
Woodward v. Redden
116 S.W. 33 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1909)
O'Hara v. Laclede Gas Light Co.
110 S.W. 642 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1908)
Calcaterra v. Iovaldi
100 S.W. 675 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1907)
Marshall v. Consolidated Jack Mines Co.
95 S.W. 972 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1906)
Shaw v. Goldman
81 S.W. 1223 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1904)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 S.W. 787, 179 Mo. 553, 1904 Mo. LEXIS 31, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sharp-v-national-biscuit-co-mo-1904.