Skillern & Sons, Inc. v. Paxton

293 S.W.2d 521, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 1773
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 10, 1956
Docket3236
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 293 S.W.2d 521 (Skillern & Sons, Inc. v. Paxton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Skillern & Sons, Inc. v. Paxton, 293 S.W.2d 521, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 1773 (Tex. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

COLLINGS, Justice.

This suit was brought by Mrs. Mary T. Paxton against Skillern & Sons, Inc., seeking damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by Mrs. Paxton in a fall while leaving the Skillern drug store located in the Mercantile Bank Building in Dallas, Texas.

It was alleged by Mrs. Paxton that on or about December 4, 1953, while she was ninety-four years of age, she entered defendant’s drug store at the corner of Main and Ervay Streets through a revolving door; that she went into the store for the purpose of doing her Christmas shopping. She alleged that there was a revolving door and a hinged door at the entrance to defendant’s store, but that the hinged door was not at the time available to be used by her because the defendant had locked it and had magazine racks placed in front of said door. She alleged that on account of her age she did not ordinarily use, and on the occasion in question would not have used, the revolving door but for the fact that the hinged door was not available. She alleged that in leaving defendant’s store through the revolving door, which was the only one furnished for her use, she was caused to fall upon the concrete sidewalk and thereby suffered serious and permanent injury to her body and sustained damage in the sum of $35,000. Mrs. Paxton further alleged, among other things, that her said injury and damage was proximately caused by the negligent acts and omissions of the defendant (1) in having its hinged entrance door locked, (2) in having magazine racks placed in front of said hinged door and (3) in not having available for its customers an exit other than the revolving door. In this connection plaintiff also urged that Skillern & Sons, Inc., was guilty of negligence as a matter of law because of its violation of an ordinance of the City of Dallas required a swinging door to be maintained adjacent to a revolving door.

Upon a trial of the case before a jury it was found that the defendant was guilty of negligence in all the respects above set out, that such negligent acts and omissions were the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury and resulting damage in the amount of $16,000. Skillern & Sons, Inc., has appealed.

In numerous points appellant Skillern & Sons, Inc., contends that it was not guilty of any negligence proximately causing ap-pellee’s injury and resulting damage. Appellant urges that the evidence does not show any defect in the revolving door or in its maintenance, use and operation. Appellant urg'es that the evidence viewed ini its most favorable light to Mrs. Paxton; shows no more than the locking or obstructing of the swinging door forced her to go through a revolving door in which the evidence shows no defect in construction, maintenance, use or operation. Appellant contends that such evidence does not show it to be guilty of any negligence proximately causing appellee’s injury and resulting damage; that as a matter of law no actionable negligence was shown against appellant and that the trial court erred in not granting appellant’s motion for an instructed verdict.

The building code of the City of Dallas in its entirety was offered in evidence. Section 3314 of the code provides as. follows:

“Revolving doors may be used as a means of exit at the ground floor only, for any occupancy except a, b, c, or d. In no case shall revolving-doors constitute the full required exit width, but such doors when used, *524 shall be supplemented by at least one hinged door located immediately adjacent tO' the revolving door.
“The wings of revolving doors shall be arranged so that they will fold flat on each other in an outward direction when a force slightly more than necessary to revolve the door is applied. A minimum width of not less then twenty inches (20") shall be maintained on each side of the doors when collapsed and only this width shall be used in determining the width of the exit through such doors.”

It is undisputed that appellant Skillern & Sons did not have available for its customers an exit at its sidewalk entrance other than the revolving door. There was a hinged door adjacent to the revolving door but it was at the time locked and magazine racks were stacked in front of it. The basis of the judgment appealed from is that appellant’s failure to furnish an exit other than the revolving door constituted negligence proximately causing appellee’s injury and damage. Appellee urges in effect that appellant’s failure to furnish an exit other than the revolving door was negligence per se because it was a violation of the above quoted provision of the city ordinance. Appellee also urges that such failure was negligence because of the jury finding supported by evidence to that effect.

Under the facts of this case we are unable to sgree with appellee’s contention that the failure to furnish an exit other than the revolving door was negligence per se. Generally speaking, the test in determining whether the violation of an ordinance or statute is to be held negligence as a matter of law is whether one of the purposes of the ordinance was to afford protection against the hazard involved in the particular case. East Texas Motor Freight Lines v. Loftis, 148 Tex. 242, 223 S.W.2d 613. Restatement of the Law, Torts, § 286, p. 756. In our opinion the ordinance in question requiring that revolving doors be supplemented by at least one hinged door was designed as a provision for public safety to insure a means of exit in case of an emergency such as fire. The second paragraph of the above quoted provision of the ordinance indicates such a design and purpose by the requirement that the wings of the folding doors should be so arranged “that they will fold flat on each other in an outward direction when a force slightly more than necessary to revolve the door is applied.” The purpose of this provision obviously is to prevent an obstruction of the exits in an emergency. The most reasonable interpretation of the ordinance is that the provision requiring supplementary hinged doors was for the same purpose. The ordinance specifically permits the use of revolving doors on the ground floor. This authorization is an approval by the city legislators of the revolving doors for ordinary use. To hold that the furnishing of revolving doors only was under ordinary circumstances negligence as a matter of law would be inconsistent with the general approval of such doors. The purpose of the provision for supplementary hinged doors was not to protect individuals or the public from the hazards of ordinary use of revolving doors, but was for the purpose of protection against the hazard of obstruction of ground floor exits in cases of emergency, such as fire. The failure of appellant to have available for appellee’s use the hinged door adjacent to the revolving door was under the facts of this case not negligence per se. Leonard Bros. v. Zachary, Tex.Civ.App., 94 S.W.2d 509; Franklin v. Houston Electric Co., Tex.Civ.App., 286 S.W. 578; Sears Roebuck & Co. v. Kengla, Tex.Civ.App., 266 S.W.2d 548.

We are also of the opinion that as a matter of law the evidence shows no actionable negligence against appellant and that the trial court erred in not granting appellant’s motion for instructed verdict.

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Bluebook (online)
293 S.W.2d 521, 1956 Tex. App. LEXIS 1773, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/skillern-sons-inc-v-paxton-texapp-1956.