Woodson v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.

123 S.W. 820, 224 Mo. 685, 1909 Mo. LEXIS 29
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 23, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 123 S.W. 820 (Woodson v. Metropolitan Street Railway 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
Woodson v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co., 123 S.W. 820, 224 Mo. 685, 1909 Mo. LEXIS 29 (Mo. 1909).

Opinion

GRAVES, J.

Plaintiff, the widow of Major Blake L. Woodson, bring's this action to recover damages for the alleged wrongful death of her husband, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendants. The accident which resulted in the death of Major Woodson occurred on the west side of Charlotte . street between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, and as alleged at a point one hundred and seventy-five to two hundred feet south of the southwest corner of [692]*692Twelfth and Charlotte streets. On that side of the street practically all of the block between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets was occupied by a power house and shops belonging to the defendant railway company. It is charged:

“Now comes the plaintiff and for her cause of action against the defendants states that the defendant Metropolitan Street Railway Company is and was at all the times hereinafter mentioned a street railway company, organized and existing under and by virtue of the Constitution and laws of the State of Missouri, and operating a large number of lines of electric and street railway in Kansas City, Jackson county, Missouri, and particularly a certain line of cable railway known as the Twelfth Street Line in said city; that at all of the times hereinafter mentioned, said defendant, Metropolitan Street Railway Company, had for its nse in connection with said Twelfth Street Line a certain building or power house located at the southwest corner of Twelfth and Charlotte streets in Kansas City, Jackson county, Missouri; that defendant Kansas City is and was at all the times hereinafter mentioned a municipal corporation; that Charlotte street in said city, from Twelfth street to Thirteenth street, is, and was at all the times hereinafter mentioned, a public street and highway of Kansas City, Jackson county, Missouri ; that all the times hereinafter mentioned plaintiff was the lawfully wedded wife of Blake L. Woodson, now deceased; that all the times hereinafter mentioned it was the duty of the defendant Kansas City to use ordinary care to keep said street and the sidewalks thereof in a reasonably safe condition for travel and free from all obstructions which would render said _ ¡street not reasonably safe for use of the traveling public; that at all times it was the duty of defendant Metropolitan Street Railway Company not to render said streets and said sidewalks unsafe and dangerous by placing or permitting obstructions to exist thereon by [693]*693its act; that on or about the 16th day of March, 1902, the sidewalk upon the west side of Charlotte street between Twelfth street and Thirteenth street aforesaid, and immediately adjacent- to the power honse of defendant Metropolitan Street Railway Company, was unsafe and dangerous in this: That the defendants had placed' and permitted to remain thereon a large number of iron or steel rails; said iron or steel rails lying in various positions upon said sidewalk and forming a dangerous obstruction to travel thereon; that said sidewalk was in such defective, unsafe and dangerous condition upon said day and had been for a long period of time, to-wit, for many months, so that the defendants, and each of them, had notice of said defective, unsafe and dangerous condition on account of the obstructions aforesaid, or by the exercise of ordinary care would have known of such condition for a time reasonably sufficient to have removed said rails and remedied said defective, unsafe and dangerous condition before the happening of the catastrophe hereinafter mentioned, but that both of said defendants carelessly and negligently failed and omitted so to do.”

By admissions of the parties it appears that on the west side of Charlotte street there was a brick sidewalk six and two-tenths feet wide; that to the building-line from this sidewalk was four and one-tenth feet; that from the east edge of the sidewalk to the curbing it was five and eight-tenths feet.

It was shown that there was a row of trees between the curbing and the sidewalk and admitted1 that the tree near the point of accident was two- and seven-tenths feet from the curbing, and that the trees in the row were twenty feet apart. That these rails, such as were used in the construction of street railway tracks, had been there for some months, the -evidence clearly shows. They were not on the brick pavement but between the pavement and the curbing, and one [694]*694witness says some were in the street. Tire evidence shows that there was at least one curved rail, and for the plaintiff it was made to appear that one end of this curved rail came within five or six inches of the brick pavement.

On the day of the accident, which was Sunday, and about eleven in the forenoon, the deceased was walking north on the brick portion of the sidewalk, leisurely smoking a cigar, when according to plaintiff’s theory, he started across in a northeast direction to a drug store on the opposite side of the street, where he had occasionally traded, when he stumbled and fell, the back of his head striking the sharp edge of one of these rails, which cut a gash therein, hack of the left ear, and from the shock of this blow, he then and there within a few minutes died. Plaintiff’s theory is that his foot struck this curved rail, and that as he stumbled forward, he reached for a tree near by and whether he grasped the tree or not he so checked the forward movement as to be thrown backward in a manner to strike the rail as aforesaid. An autopsy was held and from that it was developed that deceased was suffering from Bright’s disease. Defendants’ witnesses say deceased was walking in the middle of the brick pavement, when all at once he began to stagger as a drunken man and finally fell, upon this rail. They also say he tried to' catch to the tree and one of them seemed to think his hand touched the tree. The medical testimony, as is usual in such cases, differs widely, save and except that the deceased had Bright’s disease. Plaintiff’s medical testimony was that it was chronic and deceased might have lived for some time but for the shock of the blow. On the other hand defendants’ experts were of- the opinion that deceased was practically a dead man before he struck the iron rail. Defendants also proved that several months prior thereto the deceased had been attacked by dizziness in the court room during the trial of a case, and remained at home some two or more [695]*695weeks thereafter. On the other hand it is shown that on the morning of the accident, the deceased was hale and hearty as nsnal, being a man of strong physique, although advanced in years; that he ate his breakfast as usual, and after reading the morning papers started down town. He had gone but a few blocks when the end came.

The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of five thousand dollars, from which both defendants have duly appealed. This in a general way states the ease.

Defendants press with great force the failure of the trial court to give their respective peremptory instructions, offered both at the end of plaintiff’s case and at the end of the whole case. The disposition of the several points made against the trial court for this failure will require more details of the evidence, but these we will give in the course of the opinion.

X. There are some matters upon the question of the demurrers to the testimony which are common to • both defendants, and others which only go to one or the other of them. To better understand the questions, we will state the character of the answers. The street railway filed a simple general denial.

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Bluebook (online)
123 S.W. 820, 224 Mo. 685, 1909 Mo. LEXIS 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodson-v-metropolitan-street-railway-co-mo-1909.