Walsh v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.

52 S.W.2d 839, 331 Mo. 118, 1932 Mo. LEXIS 806
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedSeptember 3, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 52 S.W.2d 839 (Walsh v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Walsh v. Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., 52 S.W.2d 839, 331 Mo. 118, 1932 Mo. LEXIS 806 (Mo. 1932).

Opinions

[1] Ruth Murray, plaintiff's intestate, brought this suit for personal injuries sustained by her by reason of a plate glass window falling on her while walking along the sidewalk of a public street in St. Louis in front of a building owned by defendant Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. She died after the trial and judgment and the case has been revived for the purpose of a hearing here in the name of her administratrix. In referring to plaintiff, we mean Ruth Murray, who was injured and prosecuted this suit in *Page 122 her own name in the trial court. At the time of plaintiff's injury the other defendant, John J. Reardon Realty Company, was occupying as a tenant the room of the Telephone Building from which the plate glass window in question fell on plaintiff, and plaintiff in her suit made both the landlord and tenant parties defendant, each being charged with negligence in maintaining the plate glass window in such unsafe condition that it fell without apparent cause on plaintiff when she was merely walking along the sidewalk. The case proceeded to trial and was submitted to a jury against both defendants, resulting in a verdict for plaintiff against the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in the sum of $4,500 and in favor of the defendant John J. Reardon Realty Company. Thereupon the Telephone Company filed its motion for new trial, which the court sustained, and plaintiff has appealed from the order granting a new trial to that company. That appeal was granted to the St. Louis Court of Appeals, and properly so except for the fact that the plaintiff thereupon filed her motion for new trial against the defendant Realty Company. That motion was also sustained, resulting in an appeal by the Realty Company, which was properly granted to this court as the suit is for $20,000 damages. On proper motion in the Court of Appeals, the appeal of the Telephone Company was transferred to this court on the ground that the granting of an appeal to two different parties in one case does not make two cases for hearing in the appellate court or courts, but that it remains one case on appeal, and when the appeal of either appealing party vests jurisdiction in this court, the whole case must be heard here. [Morton v. Southwestern Telegraph Telephone Co., 280 Mo. 360,217 S.W. 831, 833; Sandusky v. Sandusky, 265 Mo. 219, 232; Connelly v. Railroad, 169 Mo. App. 272, 289.] It is pointed out in these cases that there can be only one final judgment in a case disposing of same as to all parties, and, while any or all of the parties may appeal if aggrieved by the judgment, it is yet one case on appeal and the separate appeals must be disposed of by one appellate court. [Snoqualmi Realty Co. v. Moynihan,179 Mo. 629, 634, 78 S.W. 1014.]

[2] We also observe in this connection that, on the erroneous theory that two appeals in one case make two cases for hearing in this court unless consolidated, each appeal has been separately docketed and each appellant has separately perfected his appeal as a separate case in this court, each having filed a short transcript, separate abstracts, etc. A good many cases come to this court in this shape, causing useless expense and confusion. Such cases are usually consolidated here on motion of one party or on suggestion that the two cases be heard as one. The proper practice, however, is for the parties appealing to keep in mind that separate or cross appeals in *Page 123 the same case do not make separate cases in the appellate court. There is properly only one case in that appellate court which has jurisdiction as determined by the appeals when considered as one and not separately. We have a statute indicating and to some extent governing the procedure on cross appeals in the same case, which provides: "Where a writ of error is sued out or an appeal is duly taken by both parties to review the judgment or decree of a lower court, a transcript or abstract of the record filed in the superior court by either appellant or plaintiff in error may be used on both appeals or writs of error, and both shall be heard thereon in the same manner as if transcripts or abstracts had been filed by both sides: Provided, the party taking the last appeal on the record, or suing out the later writ of error, shall tender or pay to the clerk where a complete transcript is sent up, or to the opposing party where only an abstract of the record is filed in the superior court, one-half the cost or expense of such transcript, or of printing the abstract of the record." This clearly contemplates that in cross appeals or appeals by more than one party, the case retains its unity throughout the appeal and should be docketed in the appellate court as one case and only one transcript or abstract of the record filed. If the party taking the first appeal as shown by the record prepares and files the abstract of the record, as the statute contemplates, then the party last appealing may avail himself of such abstract only by paying half the cost of printing the same. Of course, the other appellant would have the right to print an additional abstract of the record as provided for respondents, and the correctness of same may be challenged and determined in the same manner. Each party would, of course, prepare his own statement, brief and argument. Where there is cross appeals in a case, there should be no occasion for consolidating or hearing together such cross appeals as there is properly only one case, and the record should be prepared and presented on that theory. In the present case, as we have said, the two appeals have been consolidated, but we have two abstracts of the record, each presented by an appellant and each perhaps correct as far as it goes, but neither, at least when taken alone, "setting forth so much of the record as is necessary to a complete understanding of all the questions presented for decision" as required by our rules.

We gather from the record these facts: The defendant Telephone Company owned at the time of plaintiff's injury and of the trial a large building on North Tenth Street in St. Louis, parts of which at least were rented to tenants, and at the time of plaintiff's injury the defendant Reardon Realty Company had leased and was occupying a room used as a real estate office fronting on Tenth Street and designated as No. 111 North Tenth Street. This room or office had *Page 124 a plate glass front, a part of which consisted of a plate glass some seven or eight feet long and near nine feet high, held in place by a metal frame. As plaintiff was walking along the sidewalk in front of this building and office on May 11, 1930, this glass fell out, striking plaintiff on the head and shoulders, and from which she received various injuries. She was picked up by a passer-by and taken into the Telephone Building where she received first aid treatment from a doctor called by the Telephone Company. She was then taken home and received medical attention there. The falling of the glass from the window occurred on Sunday and no one was in the real estate office at the time. The Realty Company first learned of the window falling out and plaintiff's injury the next day, at which time the Telephone Company had covered up the office front to protect it from exposure. The plaintiff knew little, if anything, about the cause of the glass falling from the window. She identified the building by a large sign over the entrance reading "Southwestern Bell Telephone Company," and the room or office from which the glass fell by a sign reading "John J.

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Bluebook (online)
52 S.W.2d 839, 331 Mo. 118, 1932 Mo. LEXIS 806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walsh-v-southwestern-bell-telephone-co-mo-1932.