Van Cleve v. St. Louis, Memphis & Southeastern Railroad

101 S.W. 632, 124 Mo. App. 224, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 202
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided April 2, 1907·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

BLAND. P. J.

This is the second appeal of this action. On the first one the judgment was reversed and the cause remanded for retrial (107 Mo'. App. 96). After the cause was remanded, respondent filed an amended petition containing two counts. The first count was abandoned on the trial and only the cause of action stated in the second count was submitted to the jury, nine of whom signed and returned a verdict in plaintiff’s favor for $1,250. The second count of the petition stated, in substance, that respondent, on November 19, 1902, took passage on one of appellant’s trains at Yarbro, in the State of Arkansas, to be carried to Caruthersville, Missouri, and paid her fare; that on the arrival of the train at appellant’s depot in the city of Caruthersville, the steps of the coach, in which respondent was riding, were covered with a slippery mud and ice and thereby rendered unsafe; that the train came to a full stop at the depot and respondent with other passengers was requested by appellant’s agent, in charge of the train, to alight; that while the respondent was in the act of alighting, and was on the second step of the coach, “defendant carelessly and negligently jerked and backed said train suddenly and violently without giving any signal or warning whatever to this plaintiff, and by reason of the aforesaid slick mud and ice upon the steps aforesaid, from which plaintiff was attempting to alight from said passenger coach at the request of defendant, and by reason of the sudden and violent jerking and backing of said train, this plaintiff was thereby caused to violently slip and fall from the said steps of said train to and against the said depot platform and between the said steps and said platform; that by reason of said falling plaintiff then and there sustained several severe internal and external injuries, to-wit: breaking of plaintiff’s ribs and fracturing her breast bone, bruising and crushing her chest, injuring plaintiff’s lungs, and otherwise bruising and wounding plain[228] tiff; that by reason of the aforesaid injuries plaintiff suffered great bodily pain and mental anguish, great loss of blood, great and lasting pain and loss of time, and was permanently injured and was at a great expense for medical services, to the damage of plaintiff in the sum of fifteen-thousand dollars.”

The answer was a general denial and a plea .of contributory negligence.

The steps of the coach were muddy and slippery when respondent attempted to alight. The train was made up at Luxora, Arkansas, and consisted of freight cars and one passenger coach. There had been a rain the day and night before. The soil between Luxora and Yarbro is black and sticky when wet. Twenty-five or thirty passengers had boarded the train by the time it reached Caruthersville and this fact may account for the muddy and slippery condition of the steps.

Respondent testified that when the train stopped at the depot, it came to a full stop and the passengers were asked by appellant’s agent to disembark, and several passengers preceded her and alighted from the train in safety; that she had a valise in one hand and was holding to the handrail with the other, when she stepped on the second step of the coach, and while in this position the train was suddenly and violently jerked and moved, causing her to be violently thrown against the depot platform, striking her breast against the edge of the platform with such great force as to render her unconscious. She was carried into the depot, where she had a copious hemorrhage of the lungs, and was afterwards conveyed to a hotel where she remained in bed eight or ten days, having daily hemorrhages of the lungs. Respondent testified her ribs were fractured, her breast bone fractured or bent inward, her chest bruised and injured, and that she continued to have frequent hemorrhages of the lungs up to the day of the trial, had lost from twenty-five to thirty pounds in weight, was [229] unable to sleep without being propped up in bed and suffered constant pain; that before the injury she was strong and healthy, picked cotton and worked as a domestic servant, but since the injury she was unable to do any work whatever. ,

Hr. G. W. Phipps, respondent’s attending physician, testified that she had tuberculosis of the lungs and, in his opinion, it was caused by the fall from appellant’s car on November 19, 1902. •

There was no evidence tending to show repsondent was guilty of contributory negligence, other than that she carried a large and heavy valise and, without noticing the muddy and slippery condition of the steps of the car, undertook to alight without assistance, which could have been furnished her by one of appellant’s brakemen, who was present for the purpose of assisting passengers to alight from the train.

By order of the court, respondent was examined by three physicians, who testified that she did not have any pulmonary disease; that they failed to find any evidence that her ribs or breast bone had ever been fractured, or any evidence that she had received any external injuries whatever, and that her health was normal.

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Van Cleve v. St. Louis, Memphis & Southeastern Railroad, 101 S.W. 632, 124 Mo. App. 224, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 202 (Mo. Ct. App. 1907).

101 S.W. 632 (Van Cleve v. St. Louis, Memphis & Southeastern Railroad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

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353 S.W.2d 659 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1962)
Van Cleve v. St. Louis, Memphis & Southeastern Railway Co.
118 S.W. 116 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1909)