Eyer v. Jordan

• Decision Date: 02 July 1892
• Citation: 19 S.W. 1095,111 Mo. 424
• Parties: EYER v. JORDAN.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

19 S.W. 1095

111 Mo. 424

EYER v. JORDAN.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

July 2, 1892.

DEFECTIVE STEPS — INJURY TO TENANT'S VISITOR — LIABILITY OF LANDLORD.

1. Where the only defect in steps leading from a porch to the ground 4 or 5 feet below is that the upper step is some 12 inches longer than the others, and this is clearly discernible in the daytime, or when the porch is lighted, the landlord is not liable for an injury to his tenant's visitor, caused by his stepping off in the dark from the projecting end of the upper step into the vacancy at the end of the lower ones, the fault being that of the tenant in not providing a light.

2. Though the person injured was a tenant of another part of the house, or even of that part, the landlord's liability would not thereby be affected.

Appeal from circuit court, Jackson county; R. H. FIELD, Judge.

Action by one Eyer against one Jordan for personal injuries. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Thos. F. Gatts, for appellant. Karnes, Holmes & Krauthoff, for respondent.

BARCLAY, J.

Plaintiff became nonsuited in the circuit court because of its ruling denying her a recovery of damages for personal injuries sustained as follows: Defendant owned a small dwelling in Kansas City, Mo. It had been let by him to a tenant, Mr. Bettis, and was in possession of the latter, except the basement, which he had sublet to plaintiff's husband. On a night in December, 1888, about 8 o'clock, plaintiff was invited by Mrs. Bettis to come up the front steps, leading to a porch or landing at the entrance to the premises occupied by the latter. The occasion of this invitation was that an alarm of fire had just been given, and the machines of the fire department were passing on a neighboring avenue. The porch commanded a better view of them than did the plaintiff's quarters. Plaintiff accepted the invitation, passed up the steps, and stood a while with Mrs. Bettis on the porch The steps were constructed so (to quot from the petition) "that the top step, just immediately below the landing to the porch, * * * extends the entire width of said porch, and from the outside of the steps up to and attached to the building, said top step being in manner, form, and appearance constructed the same as any ordinary step is usually made; that the next step immediately below said top step is so constructed that it is over twelve (12) inches shorter than the top step, as above described, on the side next to the building, or inside of the porch; and the remaining steps, from the last one described to the ground, are all short in the same manner." These steps were within the private inclosure or yard appurtenant to the dwelling, and some 15 feet from the street. The porch was 4 or 5 feet above the level of the surrounding yard, and of the walk leading to it. There was no light upon the steps, and the night was dark. When plaintiff started to descend from the porch she stepped from the top step into the vacancy at the end of the next lower one, and consequently fell to the ground, a distance of nearly five feet. She sustained severe injuries. It is alleged that the premises were let to the tenant, Mr. Bettis, in the condition described, and that for that reason defendant is liable to plaintiff for the...