Anderson v. City of Monroe

• Decision Date: 07 May 1941
• Docket Number: 6351.
• Citation: Anderson v. City of Monroe, 2 So.2d 499 (La. App. 1941)
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana
• Parties: ANDERSON v. CITY OF MONROE.

2 So.2d 499

ANDERSON v. CITY OF MONROE.

No. 6351.

Court of Appeals of Louisiana, Second Circuit

May 7, 1941

Joseph S. Guerriero, of Monroe, for appellant.

Oliver & Digby, of Monroe, for appellee.

HAMITER Judge.

In alighting from a motor bus on which she was a paid passenger, at the corner of Seventh Street and Layton Avenue in the City of Monroe, Louisiana, during the afternoon of September 4, 1940 plaintiff, Mrs. Stella Anderson, fell to the pavement and was seriously injured.

The named municipality, being the owner and operator of the bus system of which such vehicle was a part, is made defendant in this tort action; and against it plaintiff seeks a judgment for all damages occasioned her by the accident.

In the petition it is alleged that she was injured "as a result of having fallen from the steps of said bus, which said fall was caused by the bus driver releasing the clutch or shifting gears to the bus which made the said bus move and the jerk or movement of the bus caused your petitioner to lose her balance and fall to the ground"; and said act of the driver, so she charges, constituted gross negligence, for the consequences of which his employer, the defendant herein, is responsible.

Defendant denies the allegations of fact above quoted, and generally denies responsibility for the accident and injuries, it contending that the fall resulted through no fault of the City of Monroe or the bus driver. In the alternative contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff is pleaded.

Evidence was adduced on the issues created by the pleadings and the district court rendered judgment rejecting plaintiff's demands and dismissing her suit. On a rehearing, granted on the motion of plaintiff, the mentioned decree was reinstated. Written reasons for the court's decision were assigend and are in the record.

From the judgment, plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.

There is no dispute as to the principles of law applicable to the case. These are, quoting from Owens v. Monzingo, La.App., 191 So 581, 583, that: "* * * a prima facie case of negligence against a defendant common carrier is established when a plaintiff shows that he was a paid passenger on its vehicle and was injured while thereon. It then becomes the duty of the defendant, in order to avoid liability for the injuries sustained, to prove its freedom from any negligence, which might have caused the attending accident, sufficient in probative weight to overcome plaintiff's prima facie case. In the discharge of that duty, however, it is not encumbent on said carrier to show how and why the passenger was injured."

The announced doctrine is similarly stated in previous jurisprudence of this state, including the cases of Cusimano v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 170 La. 95, 127 So. 376, and Wallace v. Shreveport Railways Company, La.App., 175 So. 86.

The sole...