Waeckerley v. Colonial Baking Co.

67 S.W.2d 779, 228 Mo. App. 1185, 1934 Mo. App. LEXIS 183
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 6, 1934
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 67 S.W.2d 779 (Waeckerley v. Colonial Baking Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waeckerley v. Colonial Baking Co., 67 S.W.2d 779, 228 Mo. App. 1185, 1934 Mo. App. LEXIS 183 (Mo. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

BECKER, J.

This is an" action for damages for personal 'injuries alleged-to have been sustained as- the resdlt-of defendant’s-truck 'tunning into the rear of an automobile in Which plaintiff was sitting ori the "rear seat. Upon trial Of the case the jury returned a verdict -in favor of'the plaintiff for $750, but plaintiff deeming herself aggrieved'by the amount thus awarded her, took-ah appeal from the resulting judgment. In light of the questions raised here on appeal we nfeed not advert to the pleadings in the case.

• The record discloses that the infant plaintiff, on the 21st day of March, 1930, then four years of age, was sitting on the rear seat of an automobile driven by her mother; that on Grávois Avenue the automobile had' come to a complete stop behind a work car of the St. Louis Public Service Company; a street railway company, at a pbiht about the middle ■ of the block’ ’between Dunnica Avenue and Chippewa Avenue in ’the city oí St. Louis. When the automobile came to a stop plaintiff stood up, and ’while she was so standing-and while the automobile was at a standstill, the driver of defendant’s truck drove the front end -of his truck against the rear of the automobile ■ in which plaintiff was tiding,' causing plaintiff to *1189 be thrown'tp,-the, floor .qf the automobile,-injured "and rendered, .unconscious.

The record discloses. that - on February 7, 1930, shortly, prior to the date • of the accident,, the infant plaintiff -had been operated upon at the- St. Louis Childrens’- Hospital' for ptosis of the; right -upper-eyelid. The hospital record discloses that the physicial.examination: of plaintiff at that time showed that besides the ptosis of the-right upper eyelfd plaintiff had .súb-acute tonsilitis and sub-acute cervical adenitis. Physicians-,explained that ptosis means a drooping of-the; eyelid. The hospital record discloses that the physical examination that cervical adenitis means lymph gland inflammation of the cervical' neck region.

Dr. Simpson testified that he examined plaintiff following the accident and found that, she had a laceration some three inches in length on her. forehead in the mid-front region; that there was -a mass in the right frontal region covering the right eye, -some four-inches in diameter., and various abrasions- on-her body. - For treat-; ment he had ice packs applied to bring down the swelling of the. mass and injected anti-tetanus to prevent lockjaw; also took two stitches in. the head laceration. Dr. Simpson’s diagnosis of the plaintiff at- that time was -that she -had -concussion of the brain,lacerations of the scalp, hematoma over the right eye,'f and numerous abrasions over the -entire body.- Plaintiff was kept in bed twenty days. A day o-r two after Dr; Simpson’s first visit-to plaintiff he .discovered that plaintiff had a large mass in the right sub-maxillary cervical region at the point- where the hospital record showed plaintiff, in February, 1930, had sub-acute cervical adenitis. Dr. Simpson was hot able to reduce this- mass condition and upon his suggestion the child-was taken to -Dr. Blair in November, 1930-, who operated upon the mass. Dr. Simpson testified further that after the swelling over the right eye had subsided he found that the-child was suffering with ptosis of the right upper, eyelid — a drooping of the upper eyelid; that on May 26, .1930, at his suggestion, Dr. Blair operated upon the eyelid, taking a strip of fascia from plaintiff’s -right thigh and which was “'slung from the frontal muscle to the tarsal cartilage.”

Plaintiff was not adduced as a witness at the trial but there was testimony to the effect that after the operations plaintiff had a sear-about an inch in length near the hair-line in the mid-frontal region; a scar one inch in length oh the right side of the neck below the lower jaw angle; and a scar seven inches in length on her right thigh where Dr. Blair-had taken part of the muscle for the purpose of the plastic work on her upper eyelid; and that while before the date of the accident she was not required to wear glasses that some-six months thereafter it :was found that pláintiff’s sight required her -to wear glasses, and that since she met with the injuries com-- *1190 plained of plaintiff, had been nervous and had complained of headaches.

Plaintiff’s mother, on cross examination, admitted that the year prior to the accident she noticed that the 'plaintiff had a drooping eyelid; that a Dr. Hildreth performed an operation on the eyelid at the St. Louis Childrens’ Hospital a month before the accident.

The father of plaintiff, on cross-examination, testified that the drooping of plaintiff’s eyelid developed about a year and. a half before the -accident; that Dr. Hildreth had operated upon the eye, and it was his opinion that said operation was successful and that ‘‘the automobile accident caused the necessity for the second operation . . . ”

Dr. Hardesty! an eye specialist, testified on behalf of defendant. As to ptosis of the eye he stated that he had never seen a case that had gotten all right by itself; that an operation is necessary — sometimes more than one operation; that the first operation upon plaintiff’s eye for ptosis, performed by Dr. Hildreth, was a type of operation that “hasn’t been successful for me. Not the first operation of that type. The more successful type of operation is transplanting of the fascia from the leg in the eyelid;.” that the father had told him that Dr. Blair had performed the operation of the latter type, and that the transplanting operation is the more difficult of the two and requires more skill and a more experienced surgeon. He also testified that Dr. Blair was a very skilled surgeon.

On cross-examination he testified “that one who had been operated on for ptosis could receive a blow on the eye and that blow be so hard it would eradicate all semblance of the prior operation. The eye might, or might not, return to the condition that it was in prior to the first operation.” As to the enlargement of the gland in the neck he stated that if the gland enlargement existed before the accident he “could not see how the accident could have caused the enlargement of the gland.”

Dr. Leo A. Will stated that assuming plaintiff had acute cervical adenitis or an enlargement of the lymphatic -gland in her neck that a blow directly over the inflamed cervical lymph gland might aggravate it. He gave it as his opinion, however, that the accident had nothing to do with the acute tonsilitis or cervical adenitis. He further testified that the child still had very large diseased tonsils in her throat — chronic inflammatory tonsilitis “which in itself, without being either acute or sub-acute, could be responsible for enlarged cervical lymph glands.”

Appellant’s first assignment of error is that the trial court permitted defendant to seek to impeach its own witness, Fred Debreeht, the driver of the truck.

Debreeht was the driver of defendant’s truck which ran into the automobile in which the infant plaintiff was riding. The record *1191

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Bluebook (online)
67 S.W.2d 779, 228 Mo. App. 1185, 1934 Mo. App. LEXIS 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waeckerley-v-colonial-baking-co-moctapp-1934.