Scott v. St. Joseph Ry., Light, Heat & Power Co.

Citation153 S.W. 1058
PartiesSCOTT v. ST. JOSEPH RY., LIGHT, HEAT & POWER CO.
Decision Date03 February 1913
CourtCourt of Appeal of Missouri (US)

Appeal from Circuit Court, Buchanan County; William D. Rusk, Judge.

Action by Edna Scott against the St. Joseph Railway, Light, Heat & Power Company. From judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

R. A. Brown, of St. Joseph, for appellant. Mytton & Parkinson, of St. Joseph, for respondent.

JOHNSON, J.

Plaintiff alleges she was thrown from a street car on which she was a passenger by the sudden starting of the car, and prays for the recovery of her resultant damages on the ground that the injury she received was caused by the negligence of the operators of the car in starting it while she was in the act of alighting. The answer is a general denial. The cause is here on the appeal of defendant from a judgment of $3,000 recovered by plaintiff in the circuit court.

The injury occurred in the afternoon of December 15, 1910, at the end of the Krug Park line of defendant's street railway system in St. Joseph. Plaintiff and her nephew, who was 13 years of age, were passengers on an out-bound electric car, and, desiring to transfer at the end of the line to a connecting suburban car, proceeded to alight when the car stopped at that point for the discharge of passengers. There were five departing passengers, and plaintiff was the last to leave the car. She and her nephew, who claims he was watching her, state she was in the act of stepping from the rear vestibule to the first step when suddenly the car started forward, throwing her to the pavement. The conductor and motorman introduced as witnesses by defendant deny she was thrown from the car, or that it started forward before she had alighted in safety. The other passengers did not see plaintiff fall, but immediately thereafter their attention was attracted to her, and they observed her lying on the pavement. Two young women who were approaching the stopping place to board a car also had their attention drawn to the scene, and hastened to the assistance of plaintiff, who appeared to be injured and in need of help. The testimony of these witnesses very strongly corroborates the statement of plaintiff and her nephew that she had fallen from the car, and had sustained severe and painful injuries. Plaintiff was taken into a nearby residence, and remained there until an ambulance came and removed her to a hospital. Before her removal, a physician was called, and the examination he made in the presence of some of the witnesses disclosed a severe and recent bruise at the base of the spine, covering an area including the coccyx and sacrum—the last two sections of the spinal column. The physician testified: "The skin was just grazed as though it had been rubbed or something, just enough so that the blood would just stand to the surface. * * * It was fresh, * * * and was over the sacrum and coccyx. * * * She seemed to be suffering a great deal of pain. She was suffering shock enough that I administered strychnine at that time." He followed her to the hospital, and made another examination there. He states: "I had her put to bed, and I examined the coccyx and found it misplaced, and showed evidence of having been fractured." Plaintiff was in the hospital from December 15th to February 27th, and her condition during that time thus is described by the physician: "When she entered the hospital, it seemed to be shock and pain from the lick that she had received or fall or whatever it might have been, and then in about a week this trouble with the ovary and appendix developed, and I kept the ice on her I think for about four or five days until that was allayed, and then she suffered more from nervousness than anything else from that on, complained of pain down the limbs, over the sciatic nerve, and over the plexuses of the nerves that are given off to the spine, and she complained of that off and on at times, and then I don't remember just how long, but I think something like about three weeks, her stomach...

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13 cases
  • March v. Midwest St. Louis, L.L.C.
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • January 14, 2014
    ...507 (Mo.App.1926); Wright v. Hines, 235 S.W. 831 (Mo.App.1921); Callison v. Eads, 211 S.W. 715 (Mo.App.1919); Scott v. St. Joseph Ry., 168 Mo.App. 527, 153 S.W. 1058 (1913); Ridge v. Johnson, 129 Mo.App. 541, 107 S.W. 1103, 1103–04 (1908); Rickroad v. Martin, 43 Mo.App. 597, 603 (1891). 2. ......
  • Asadorian v. Sayman
    • United States
    • Missouri Court of Appeals
    • April 6, 1926
    ...this case), his ruling is not open to review by this court and our function with respect to the evidence ceases. Scott v. Heat & Power Co., 153 S. W. 1058, 168 Mo. App. 527; Phillip v. Biernacki (Mo. App.) 272 S. W. Defendant sought to prove that, at the time he checked over the rugs which ......
  • Donati v. Gualdoni, 40769.
    • United States
    • Missouri Supreme Court
    • December 13, 1948
    ... ... GUALDONI, HENRY GUALDONI, LENA BORRONI, JOSEPH GUALDONI, and LOUISE VINEVARD, Respondents ... Sec. 1915, Mo. R.S.A.; Grange v. C. & E.I. Ry. Co., 69 S.W. (2d) 955, 334 Mo. 1040; Parrent v ... (2d) 700, 234 Mo. App. 448; Scott v. St. Joseph Ry., etc., Co., 168 Mo. App. 527, ... and except for the exercise of the right or power of the trial court to grant a new trial, as in ... 2d 700; Scott v. St. Joseph Ry., Light, Heat & Power Co., 168 Mo. App. 527, 153 S.W ... ...
  • Gavin v. Coal Co., 22815.
    • United States
    • Missouri Court of Appeals
    • June 5, 1934
    ... ... App., l.c. 262; Fleming v. Ry. Co., 263 Mo. 180, 172 S.W. 355; Dey v. United ... testimony, and the court has inherent power to prevent itself from being so prostituted, so ong as it has jurisdiction over the cause. Scott v. Power Company, 168 Mo. App. 527, 153 S.W ... West St. Louis Water & Light Co., 278 S.W. 979; Nagle v. Alberter, 53 S.W ... ...
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