Texas & N. O. Ry. Co. v. Rooks

292 S.W. 536
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedMarch 2, 1927
DocketNo. 750-4699
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 292 S.W. 536 (Texas & N. O. Ry. Co. v. Rooks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas & N. O. Ry. Co. v. Rooks, 292 S.W. 536 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1927).

Opinion

SHORT, J.

This suit was instituted by the defendant in error against the plaintiff in 'error in the district court of Anderson county, for damages alleged to have been caused by certain negligent acts of the agents of the plaintiff in error, and upon a trial a recovery was had for $3,100; the defendant in error having voluntarily remitted $150 of the amount found by the verdict of the jury. A new trial having been refused by the trial court, an appeal was perfected to the Court of Civil Appeals at Texarkana, where the judgment of the district court was affirmed. 283 S. W. 622. An application for writ of error was granted by the Supreme Court, find has been referred to this section of the Commission of Appeals for disposition.

In her second amended original petition, the defendant in error alleged that on or about April 2, 1924, she boarded the train of the plaintiff in error at Jacksonville with a ticket entitling her to transportation to Da Rue, Tex., another station; that the conductor on the train took up her ticket and at an intermediate station the brakeman negligently announced to her that the train had reached her station, and at the brakeman’s request she left the train on the opposite side of the track from the station, where the ground was rough and unlevel, on account of which condition of the ground the step placed by the brakeman for her use in alighting careened as she placed her weight upon it, resulting in injuries for which she recovered damages. The plaintiff in error answered with a general demurrer, general denial, and plea of contributory negligence, and the case has reached the Supreme Court with eleven assignments of error alleged to have been committed by the Court of Civil Appeals in affirming the judgment of the district court, and we will dispose of these assignments of error in the order named in the writ.

The first assignment of error challenges the correctness of the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals in sustaining the action of the district court in refusing an instructed verdict requested by the plaintiff in error to be given by the district court, in the discussion of which it is probably necessary to discuss somewhat at length the general situation of the pleadings and the testimony on the part of the defendant in error.

The first amended petition of the defendant in error alleged as grounds of recovery, among other things, the several acts of negligence, one of which was that the plaintiff in error was negligent in calling out the wrong station and in requiring the defendant in error to leave the train thereat. This act of negligence was not submitted to the jury by the district court, and therefore passed out of the case. Another act of negligence alleged, on account of which the injuries resulted, was the rough and unlevel condition of the ground upon which the step furnished the defendant in error by the plaintiff in error and placed on the ground near the steps attached to the passenger coach to assist her in alighting therefrom, was wobbly and unsteady, and that the defendant in error, in alighting from said train, was caused a wrench and sprain, and extraordinary strain upon her back, limbs, bones, muscles, and sinews thereof, and she was caused to sustain internal injuries; it being further alleged that the ground where she did alight was uneven, rough, and unlevel, and that this condition of the ground caused the step to wobble and careen, causing her the injuries alleged.

The district court in its charge defined the term “negligence,” the term “ordinary care,” the term “contributory negligence,” and the term “proximate cause,” and informed the [539]*539jury that the burden of proof was upon the defendant in error to establish by a preponderance of the evidence the issue relied upon by her for recovery, but that the burden of proof was upon the plaintiff in error to establish by the same character of evidence that defendant in error was guilty of contributory negligence, and then submitted the following special issues, to which'the jury made the answers annexed herein thereto:

“Question No. 1: Was plaintiff, Mrs. Maggie Rooks, injured during the time and when she was alighting from the passenger coach of the defendant at Poynor? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 2: If you have answered question No. 1 ‘Yes,’ then was the ground upon which the brakeman placed the step or stool, to aid plaintiff in getting off of said train, uneven, rough, and unlevel? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 2A: If you have answered question No. 2 ‘Yes,’ then did such uneven, rough, and unlevel condition of said ground prevent such place from being a reasonably safe place for plaintiff to alight from said train? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 3: If you have answered questions No. 2 and No. 2A ‘Yes,’ then was defendant negligent in placing, if it did, said step or stool on such unlevel, uneven, and rough ground? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 4: If you have answered question No. 3 ‘Yes,’ then was such negligence the proximate cause of plaintiff.’s injuries? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 5: Did said step or stool careen or wobble when plaintiff stepped upon the same in alighting from said train? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 6: If you have answered question No. 5 ‘Yes,’ then was the careening or wobbling of said step or stool the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 7: Was the plaintiff, Mrs. Maggie Rooks, guilty of contributory negligence at the time of her alleged injuries in getting off of said train in the manner and under the circumstances in which she did get off of the same? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: No.
• “Question No. 8: If you have answered question No. 7 ‘Yes,’ then did such contributory negligence, if any, on her part proximately cause, or proximately contribute to cause, the injuries? Answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Answer: No.
“Question No. 9: What amount of money, if paid now, will fairly and reasonably compensate plaintiff for the alleged injuries which you may find she sustained, taking into consideration as elements of damages, as far as shown from the evidence to result naturally and probably from such injuries, the following: (1) Mental anguish and physical suffering, if any, including such, if any, as you may believe from the evidence will in reasonable probability ensue to or be caused her therefrom in the future? Answer: $3,000.
“Question.No. 10: What amount of necessary and reasonable expense has plaintiff incurred for doctor’s bills for treatment of her alleged injury? Answer: $200.
“Question No. 11: What amount of necessary and reasonable expense has plaintiff incurred for medicine in treating her alleged injuries? Answer: $50.”

The requested, charge for an instructed verdict was evidently requested upon the theory that the testimony of the defendant in error established as a matter of law contributory negligence on her part; and, if the record had been in such a condition, there can be no doubt that the district court ought to have instructed a verdict as requested.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 S.W. 536, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-n-o-ry-co-v-rooks-texcommnapp-1927.