Creech v. Shreveport Rys. Co.

• Decision Date: 28 October 1949
• Docket Number: No. 7390,7390
• Citation: Creech v. Shreveport Rys. Co., 43 So.2d 295 (La. App. 1949)
• Parties: CREECH et ux. v. SHREVEPORT RYS. CO.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana

Page 295

43 So.2d 295

CREECH et ux. v. SHREVEPORT RYS. CO.

No. 7390.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana Second Circuit.

Oct. 28, 1949.

Browne, Browne & Bodenheimer, Shreveport, for appellants.

Freyer, Goode, Nelson & Freyer, Shreveport, for appellee.

KENNON, Judge.

This is a suit by Mrs. Louise L. Creech and her husband C. W. Creech, to recover damages sustained by Mrs. Creech and expenses incurred by Mr. Creech, as a result of a fall sustained by Mrs. Creech at the corner of Travis and McNeil Streets in the City of Shreveport, Louisiana, at 7:15 a. m. on February 1, 1949 as she was in the process of alighting from a trolley car owned and operated by the defendant company.

The petition sets forth that when the trolley reached Travis and McNeil Streets and stopped for the discharge of passengers, Mrs. Creech stepped down onto the first step of the trolley and 'as she stepped off the first step toward the ground, her left foot slipped, throwing her forward onto the concrete sidewalk;' that the cause of her fall was presence of snow and ice on the first step of the trolley, which had become hardened and slippery; that she was not warned of the slippery condition of the step nor had the defendant company taken the precaution of sprinkling salt on the icy step or made effort to remove the ice. In conclusion, plaintiffs pleaded the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur.

The answer denied that defendant was guilty of any of the alleged acts of negligence or that plaintiff suffered any injury or damage and set forth in the alternative: 'if the plaintiff suffered any injury or damage as alleged that the same was occasioned solely by reason of her carelessness and negligence in disembarking from the trolley while knowing the streets and sidewalks to be covered with snow and without making use of the support handrails within easy reach at all times while disembarking.' In the alternative, defendant pleaded contributory negligence on the part of Mrs. Creech.

The case is before us on an appeal from a judgment of the District Court rejecting plaintiffs' demands.

The testimony in the case is conflicting both as to the presence of ice on the lower step of the tolley at the time of the accident and as to whether or not Mrs. Creech had completely alighted from the trolley prior to the beginning of her fall.

An examination of the record discloses that Mrs. Creech was a paying passenger on the trolley operated by the defendant company until she reached the corner of Travis and McNeil Streets and stepped off of defendant's trolley car. As stated, the testimony is in conflict as to whether she began slipping while her left foot was still on the lower step of the trolley or whether the fall began after both feet had been placed on the street surface.

However, we conclude that the plaintiff's fall occurred while she was still in the process of alighting from defendant's trolley and consider the question of whether the record shows the defendant to be free from negligence which might have caused the accident.

The principal negligence charged defendant in plaintiffs' petition is that there was ice on the lower step of the trolley, which Mrs. Creech saw at the time she boarded the trolley, and which several of plaintiffs' fellow passengers testified was present on the trolley steps....