Washington & Georgetown Railroad v. Patterson

9 App. D.C. 423, 1896 U.S. App. LEXIS 3127
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 20, 1896
DocketNo. 576
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 9 App. D.C. 423 (Washington & Georgetown Railroad v. Patterson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Washington & Georgetown Railroad v. Patterson, 9 App. D.C. 423, 1896 U.S. App. LEXIS 3127 (D.C. 1896).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Alvey

delivered the opinion of the Court:

This action is one founded upon the alleged negligence of the defendant, The Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company, producing an injury to the female plaintiff, Lavinia Patterson. It is alleged, and shown in proof, that the female plaintiff was a passenger upon the street railroad car of the defendant, and that the injury complained of was received while she was such passenger. And the only real question of fact for the jury was, whether the injury complained of was occasioned by the negligence of the defendant, or by that of the plaintiff herself. The inquiry was very fully submitted to the jury upon instructions that covered the whole case, and every aspect of it, and the instructions granted at the instance of the defendant were very liberal to the defence. Indeed, upon a close analysis of some of the instructions given, it might be reasonably questioned whether they were not more liberal than the defendant had a right to receive, in view of the whole evidence of the case.

At the close of the evidence, the plaintiff asked for two instructions to the j ury, which were given by the court. The first of these stated the hypothesis of fact upon which the plaintiffs were entitled to recover; and the second related to the elements to be considered, and the measure of damages that the jury might allow, if they found for the plaintiffs. And, on the part of the defendant, there were eighteen prayers propounded, of which number twelve were granted, and six [432]*432refused. To the refusal of these latter six prayers, and to the granting of the two instructions on the part of the plaintiffs, the defendant excepted; and it also excepted to the refusal to grant certain motions made for direction to the jury to find for the defendant, at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, because of supposed variance.

On the exceptions taken, the defendant assigned the following as errors in this court:

1. In overruling motions of the defendant at the close of the plaintiff’s case, and refusing defendant’s prayers numbered 9, 10, and 11, and granting the first prayer of the plaintiffs—all of which having reference to the subject of variance between the allegations and proofs.

2. In refusing the first, second, and twelfth prayers of the defendant, and in granting the plaintiffs’ second prayer, thereby permitting the jury to assess damages for a period not covered by the declaration; and,

3. In refusing to withdraw a juror and continue the case, because of the improper remarks made by one of the counsel for the plaintiffs in his closing argument to the jury.

1. The first assignment of errors has reference to a question made by the prayers therein referred to, as to whether the female plaintiff was a passenger on the car of the defendant, as alleged in the declaration, at the time of the injury received. The declaration alleges that the defendant had received the plaintiff on its car as a passenger, and this allegation is fully supported by the evidence in the case, if believed by the jury, as it must have been to have enabled them to find the verdict for the plaintiffs. The defendant is a common carrier of passengers, and the female plaintiff was entitled to be carried as a passenger, if there was room in the car for the purpose. The car had stopped to receive passengers, and the plaintiff was one of those who had obtained a ticket of transfer from another car, and which entitled her to ride on the defendant’s car, and she was entitled to a reasonable time and a fair opportunity to enter the car with [433]*433safety. The proof by the plaintiff, and several others, is to the effect that she had, with others, approached the car, then standing to receive passengers, and she had one foot on the running board of the car, which was an open summer car, and had taken hold of an upright or stanchion and was in the act of raising herself to a seat, when by a sudden start or jerk of the car she was thrown backwards from the car to the pavement, and was injured. This is according to the proof by the plaintiff herself, and of other witnesses who were present and saw the occurrence; and such facts, if found by the jury as required by the plaintiff’s first prayer, placed the female plaintiff in the position of a passenger and entitled her to the protection of a passenger on the car. Such facts brought the case within the terms of the declaration, and the facts were fully and clearly submitted to the jury by the first instruction given at the instance of the plaintiffs, as also the question of the exercise of due care by the plaintiff in boarding the car. There was, therefore, no error in granting the first prayer of the plaintiffs. Nor was there any error in refusing to direct a verdict for the defendant on the motions and prayers addressed to the court for that purpose upon the supposed ground of variance, and which motions and prayers are referred to in the first assignment of error. There was no variance between the allegations and proof.

2. The second assignment of error presents the question whether, on the allegations made in the declaration, the right to recover damages for the injury sustained was restricted to the time of bringing the suit ?

3. The declaration, after alleging the manner in which the injury was sustained by the female plaintiff, proceeds to declare that “she was greatly bruised, wounded, and permanently injured, and also by means of the premises the said plaintiff became and was sick, sore, lame and disordered, and her spine was permanently injured, and her nervous system greatly and permanently impaired, and she, the said female plaintiff, so remained and continued for a long space [434]*434of time, to wit, from the 15th day of July, A. D. 1891, to the time of bringing this suit,” etc.

It is contended by the defendant that the laying of the time of the pain and suffering of the plaintiff from the injury received under a videlicet, or a to wit, to the time of suit brought, restricts the right to recover damages to the time of bringing the suit, notwithstanding the proof and the character of the injury itself may have shown that the effect and natural consequences of the injury extended to a much longer period than to the time of bringing the and may be of permanent duration. Here, as will be observed, the injury complained of is expressly alleged to be permanent, though afterwards alleged, under a to wit, to continue to the time of bringing the suit. It is plain, however, upon well established authority, that this latter allegation is simply nugatory as being contrary to and inconsistent with what precedes it. This is the principle laid down in the the leading cases upon the subject. In Dakin’s Case, 2 Wms. Saund. 2906, it was held, that if what comes under a scilicet be contrary to the preceding matter it is void. . And Mr. Sergt. Williams, in note (1) to that case, in stating the ruling in Stukeld v. Butler, Hob. 175, says, that the natural and proper use of a videlicet, according to Lord Hobart, “is to particularize that which is general before, and to ■explain that which is indifferent, doubtful or obscure; but it must neither be' contrary to the premises, nor increase nor diminish the precedent matter; and therefore if a man seized in fee of black acre, white acre, and green acre, in D, should grant all his lands in D, that is to say, black acre and white acre, yet green acre shall also pass by the grant; but if lands lying out of I) are added under the

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
9 App. D.C. 423, 1896 U.S. App. LEXIS 3127, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/washington-georgetown-railroad-v-patterson-dc-1896.