Smith v. Detroit United Railway

119 N.W. 640, 155 Mich. 466, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 901
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 2, 1909
DocketDocket No. 88
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 119 N.W. 640 (Smith v. Detroit United Railway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Detroit United Railway, 119 N.W. 640, 155 Mich. 466, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 901 (Mich. 1909).

Opinion

McAlvay, J.

Plaintiff recovered for personal injuries claimed to have been caused by the negligence of defendant’s agents and servants in operating one of its cars at or near the village of Royal Oak in Oakland county. Plaintiff, her husband, and three small children were passengers upon a car upon defendant’s road, being conveyed, for a distance, over both the Detroit & Pontiac division and the Flint division. On the morning of November 20, 1904, these parties left their home in the village of Birmingham to visit friends, who lived about three miles northeast of Rochester. They went to Royal Oak on the Detroit & Pontiac division, and transferred to the Flint division, and proceeded on that division to their destination. In coming over defendant’s road on the Flint division, near Royal Oak waiting room, and before the transfer is made to the Detroit & Pontiac division, defendant’s road crosses the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee railway track. At this crossing there is a derailer on each side of the above-named railroad which cannot be crossed until the derailer is set for crossing. In going on the journey in the morning the place of transfer was reached, and transfer was made, before coming to the railroad crossing. Defendant’s cars always stopped at this crossing going both ways, and the derailer was set before going over. This appliance is for the purpose of safety, and any attempt to cross with defendant’s cars without stopping and setting it would result in throwing the car from the track. Plaintiff was not accustomed to electric cars, and had never ridden on the Flint division before this journey. The evening was dark and rainy. On the return trip plaintiff, her husband, and the three children were seated on the last, or next to the last, seat in the rear end of the car. As the car approached the railroad crossing, so both the plaintiff and her husband [469]*469testify, the conductor opened the door and called out “Royal Oak,” and the car slowed up. When the car stopped, these parties all proceeded to get off; the husband, with two children, ahead, followed by the plaintiff, who carried the baby in her arms. There is evidence to show that another woman followed directly behind plaintiff. The little girl and the husband, who carried the boy, alighted in safety. The plaintiff had reached the bottom step, when her husband called, “Hang on!” The car started suddenly and she was thrown to the ground with the child she held, and received injury. The car was crowded. People were standing inside and on the back platform. The negligence charged is that plaintiff, after the conductor had called out “ Royal Oak,” using due care, was alighting from the car, which had stopped, when defendant’s servants suddenly caused the car to start with a jerk, throwing her down and injuring her. The defense to the action was that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, in that this was not the place for stopping cars to allow passengers to alight, as might easily have been seen by plaintiff had she used diligence; that the stop was necessary to conform with the regulations of the road, and for purposes of preventing accident; that plaintiff was also negligent in attempting to alight after the car had started.

Can we say, under the circumstances of this case, that plaintiff, as a matter of law, was guilty of contributory negligence in attempting to leave the car at this place (a) because it was not the regular place for stopping to allow passengers to alight; (6) because the stop was necessary to conform with the regulations of the road and to prevent accident ? To the first contention we answer that there are several reasons why we cannot. The night was dark and rainy, and there is evidence tending to show that the situation could not be seen by plaintiff. This eliminates defendant’s chief argument under this contention. The mere fact that a passenger alights when a car stops at other than a regular stopping place is not therefore negli[470]*470gence per se. Other factors besides inability to see might, as in the case at bar, operate to relieve the passenger at such a place from negligence in alighting. It is undisputed that the conductor, shortly before the car stopped,, called out “ Royal Oak.” It is in dispute just where the car was when this call was made. It was the last call made before the car stopped, and immediately after calling out he passed rapidly out of the car. Plaintiff, believing that this was Royal Oak where she was to change cars, arose, and, seeing others in the car at the same time doing the same thing, proceeded to leave the car. The same reasoning applies to and answers the other contention that contributory negligence may be charged to plaintiff because this stop was necessary, and to prevent possible accident at the railroad crossing. The question is, What might this announcement and the stopping of the car reasonably signify and indicate to her under all the circumstances ? We must bear in mind that in this call there was nothing to indicate that this was not a regular stopping place, nor was any warning given before the car was started. Our opinion is that it was not error to submit the question of the negligence of defendant to the jury. Wolf v. Railway, 131 Wis. 335, and cases cited; Taber v. Railroad Co., 71 N. Y. 489. Our own decisions, and other authorities, hold that where, after the station is announced, a train overruns a station, or stops before reaching it, allowing passengers to alight at a dangerous place, or the train is moved without warning and injury follows, the question of negligence of the company should go to the jury. Mensing v. Railroad Co., 117 Mich. 606; Cartwright v. Railway Co., 52 Mich. 606; Bridges v. Railway Co., L. R. 7 H. L. 213; Van Horn v. Railroad Co., 38 N. J. Law, 133. The case at bar is not within the case of Minock v. Railway Co., 97 Mich. 425, cited and relied upon by defendant, where on leaving one station the announcement was made, “The next station is Holly,” and the train stopped at a railroad crossing without further announcement, when [471]*471the plaintiff proceeded to get off, and was injured. It appears in that case, by established custom, that this announcement was always made soon after leaving a station, and afterwards the next station was called when reached. Plaintiff was uncertain as to .this, but the court says:

“The evidence shows that ‘Holly’ was called when reached, and there is really no testimony that others were not, and the jury should not be permitted to assume it.”

The questions of the negligence of defendant and the contributory negligence of plaintiff were both questions upon which the jury should pass, and both questions were submitted to the jury.

'There remains to be determined in the case whether in the trial the court committed any reversible error in passing upon the questions raised upon receiving or rejecting evidence, or in charging the jury upon questions of law. The errors discussed upon these propositions will now be considered in the order above indicated. Of the errors assigned, the first discussed relates to the testimony of the witness Terwilliger, who was a passenger upon this car, concerning what his wife, who accompanied him, did at the time the car stopped. Plaintiff had already testified that other passengers were going out of the car at the time she went out, and that one woman, also going out, was immediately behind her.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
119 N.W. 640, 155 Mich. 466, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 901, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-detroit-united-railway-mich-1909.