White v. Herbst
| Decision Date | 06 March 1942 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | WHITE v. HERBST. |
Appeal from Court of Common Pleas, Waterbury County; Pickett, Judge.
Action to recover damages for the death of Pearley H. White by Annie White, administratrix, against Clifford G. Herbst, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant and by a nuisance maintained by him. Verdict and judgment for the plaintiff and appeal by the defendant.
No error.
Before MALTBIE, C. J., and AVERY, BROWN, JENNINGS, and ELLS, JJ.
Walter E. Monagan, of Waterbury (John S. Monagan, of Waterbury, on the brief), for appellant.
Sidney S. Cassel, of Waterbury, for appellee.
The plaintiff brought this action to recover for the death of the decedent alleged to be due to the defective condition of a stairway in a tenement house belonging to the defendant. A second count in the complaint was eliminated by demurrer and the action was tried upon the ground of the defendant's claimed negligence. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and the defendant has appealed from the trial court's refusal to set it aside. The jury could have reasonably found the following facts: The decedent had been visiting a relative on the second floor of the house, and left about 9 o'clock in the evening. After that, no one saw him alive. About an hour later his body was found at the foot of the stairway, within the outer door, with his head on the threshold of that door and his feet on the third or fourth stair from the bottom of the stairway. His neck was broken and he had suffered other injuries. The stairway was unlighted, there was no handrail and the steps were in a very defective condition. There were fifteen risers. The first three from the bottom were nine and one-half inches high and the others were eight and one-quarter inches. The tread on each of the first three was nine and one-quarter inches wide and on the others ten and one-quarter inches. The treads were badly worn, and the nosings on the second, fourth, ninth and eleventh steps from the bottom were broken. The condition of the stairs had been the same for at least some months before the accident. There was evidence that other persons had fallen on the stairs, one witness stating that, when she was descending the stairs and had reached about the middle, she stumbled and fell down them. There was also opinion evidence by two builders that the stairs were unsafe because of the...
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