Vultee v. Saginaw-Bay City Railway Co.

152 N.W. 981, 186 Mich. 523, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 716
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 7, 1915
DocketDocket No. 116
StatusPublished

This text of 152 N.W. 981 (Vultee v. Saginaw-Bay City Railway Co.) 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
Vultee v. Saginaw-Bay City Railway Co., 152 N.W. 981, 186 Mich. 523, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 716 (Mich. 1915).

Opinion

Moore, J.

This is a personal injury case brought to recover damages which plaintiff claims she sustained when alighting from one of the cars of defendant. From a verdict and judgment of $250 in her favor, the case is brought here by writ of error.

The errors assigned and relied upon are grouped by counsel for appellant as follows:

(1) Upon the admission of testimony.
(2) Refusal of the court to charge as requested in defendant’s written requests to charge.
(3) Upon the charge as given.
(4) The refusal to grant a new trial.

1. We have examined this group of errors assigned, and shall content ourselves with saying we think no reversible error was committed in relation thereto.

2. There were many requests to charge. A considerable portion of them requested a directed verdict and may be discussed with group 4. The remaining requests related to various phases of the case and may be considered with the charge as given. The important parts of the charge as given were as follows:

“It is a fact that at this place the plaintiff in some manner descended from the car of defendant upon [525]*525which she was riding. Speaking of that, I use the word descended so as to avoid all questions of dispute as to the manner of her getting off the car, and I will speak of that as descended from the car at that time, and there is no dispute about the fact that the defendant was injured at the time and place in question.
“There is a very serious dispute of fact covering the entire case, although this dispute of fact is not in a very large compass. Now, you have heard the testimony and you have heard the arguments of counsel, and I refer you to those for a statement of the claims of the respective parties, but for my purpose in giving you this charge I will make a brief statement of the claims of both parties.
“It is the claim of the plaintiff that she was a passenger on the car in question at the time and place in question going from some place on Washington street to her home; that the car made the turn at Columbus avenue from Washington street, and approached the railway spur track at the place in question, and it is the claim of the plaintiff that she gave a signal to the conductor for alighting, and that while she was alighting or attempting to alight from the car, by the sudden starting of the car she was thrown down and injured.
“Now, that is a brief statement of plaintiff’s claim, but not necessarily all of it.
“It is the claim of plaintiff that as a matter of law it is the duty of the street railway company, where there is a usual place for passengers to alight, to afford a reasonable time for passengers to get off of a car, and it is the claim of plaintiff that the place in question where she descended from the car was a usual stopping place.
“The defendant denies that the plaintiff’s statement of the transaction is the correct statement. There is no question, as I understand it, about this being a usual stopping place, but the defendant denies that the plaintiff’s injury was occasioned by her getting off in the way she claimed that it happened.
“It is the claim of the defendant that the plaintiff descended from the car while the car was in motion, an°d, the manner of that is described by witnesses, and the defendant claims in short upon this point that the plaintiff, instead of waiting until the car came to [526]*526a stop, or substantially so, got off the car while the car was in motion, and in that way was injured. So there is the conflict of fact, and there is where the controversy is, and there is where it becomes your duty to decide between these parties.
“Now, the case is divisible into two propositions: The first proposition is, was the defendant guilty of actionable negligence; if not, that would end the case. If, however, you find that the defendant is guilty of actionable negligence, then you will proceed to discuss the question of damages.
“I will first charge you upon the law as respects the question of fact as to whether or not the defendant is guilty of actionable negligence. I tried to make clear the disputes of fact involved and may refer to them again.
“I do not consider that it is necessary in this case to make a formal definition as to what is or is not negligence, because the controversy is a sharp and distinct one, and the question of fact is so clear and plain that I might obscure it by going too much into that detail. • I state this, however, as a leading proposition in the matter to control you and guide you in the case.-
“This is an action of negligence, and before the plaintiff can recover in this case, she must show, first, that the defendant was negligent; second, she must show, also, that at the time and place in question she herself was not negligent, because if she herself was negligent then she would be guilty of what is called in law contributory negligence, and her contributory negligence would defeat her right of recovery.
“Now, gentlemen of the jury, if it is a fact, as I said before, there does not seem to be any controversy about it in this case, that this place where the plaintiff was proposing to get off the car and where the accident happened was a usual stopping place for the railway company to stop its cars, then I charge you that the officers of the company, the conductor and motorman, one or both of them, whoever had charge of the car, on approaching this railroad crossing where people were accustomed to get on and off, it became their duty to so regulate the stopping and starting of the car at that point as to give plain[527]*527tiff ample or reasonable opportunity to alight therefrom, and if you find from the evidence that the plaintiff, Mrs. Vultee, without any fault or negligence on her part, was thrown from the car while alighting, or attempting to alight therefrom, at that point by the sudden starting of the car, and thereby sustained injuries, your verdict will be for plaintiff.
“Before the plaintiff can recover, the plaintiff must prove these propositions by the greater preponderance of the testimony; that is, by the greater weight of the testimony.,
“Now upon this point, gentlemen of the jury, I further charge you that if, when plaintiff descended from the car, the car was then in motion and had not come to a complete stop, and then it had suddenly started again, the plaintiff cannot recover. If plaintiff was not thrown off by the sudden, abrupt starting of the car, the plaintiff cannot recover.
“If the plaintiff descended from the car while it was in motion and before it came to a stop, or substantially so, the plaintiff cannot recover.
“Now I believe that this puts before you, the charge that I give puts before you the claims of the parties, and puts before you the disputed questions of fact, so that you can, as readily as the case will permit, pass upon the same. I will give you some further charges on some further details of the .case.

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

Related

Conely v. McDonald
40 Mich. 150 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1879)
Swoboda v. Ward
40 Mich. 420 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1879)
Rosie v. Willard
6 N.W. 872 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1880)
Maxwell v. Bay City Bridge Co.
9 N.W. 410 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1881)
Sheldon v. Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad
26 N.W. 507 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1886)
Brezee v. Powers
45 N.W. 130 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1890)
Weidman v. Symes
74 N.W. 1008 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1898)
Conroy v. Detroit United Railway
102 N.W. 641 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1905)
Antrim Iron Co. v. Anderson
104 N.W. 319 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1905)
Foster v. East Jordan Lumber Co.
104 N.W. 617 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1905)
Holmes v. Smith
112 N.W. 912 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1907)
Snyder v. Michigan Traction Co.
117 N.W. 889 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1908)
Schultz v. Michigan United Railways Co.
123 N.W. 594 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1909)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
152 N.W. 981, 186 Mich. 523, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vultee-v-saginaw-bay-city-railway-co-mich-1915.