Glass v. Am. Stores Co., Inc.

• Decision Date: 31 January 1933
• Docket Number: No. 13.,13.
• Citation: 164 A. 305
• Parties: GLASS et al. v. AMERICAN STORES CO., Inc., et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

164 A. 305

GLASS et al.

v. AMERICAN STORES CO., Inc., et al.

No. 13.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

Jan. 31, 1933.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. A tenant is liable for injuries sustained by a third person because of a defectively constructed sidewalk.

2. The amendment of the complaint in this case considered, and held, no abuse of discretion.

3. Defects in the opening of plaintiff's counsel were properly supplemented before testimony was introduced, so that there was no error in denying a motion for a nonsuit on the opening. Semble, that such error may be cured by evidence establishing a cause of action.

Appeal from Supreme Court.

Action by Isabella Glass and another against the American Stores Company, Inc., and others. Judgment for plaintiffs, and the named defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

C. W. Rotzell, of Camden, for appellant American Stores Co., Inc.

Worth & Worth, of Riverside, for respondents.

PARKER, J.

The plaintiffs, husband and wife, recovered damages for injuries which the wife sustained because the sidewalk in front of the defendant's (American Stores Company, Inc.) store premises in Palmyra was not constructed, as the jury necessarily found, in a reasonably safe manner. The other defendants are not before the court on this appeal; a nonsuit having been directed as to them.

The proofs indicate that in front of the defendant's store premises was an old concrete sidewalk six to eight feet wide. Eighteen inches beyond the old walk, the outer edges of which were broken, was a new concrete sidewalk twelve feet wide. The levels were not identical, and the space between was filled with cinders. It was open to the jury to find that the construction was faulty and dangerous. The testimony of the plaintiff wife indicates that she left the defendant's store, having made a purchase, and caught her foot in the ragged edge of the old sidewalk, or among the cinders, and was thrown to the ground with considerable force, suffering the injuries of which she complained.

The complaint, as originally drawn, charged the Palmyra Construction Company as the contractor that constructed the sidewalk, and the American Stores Company as tenant of the abutting premises, with placing a stake in the ground over which the female plaintiff tripped and fell. On the opening, counsel for plaintiff abandoned all claim against the contractor, and claimed a recovery against the appellant for "keeping the front of the store in a negligent and careless condition." There was a motion to nonsuit on the opening, on the ground of variance; also that the opening failed to show actionable negligence; and that "the plaintiff did not set up a cause of action against the defendant," which in effect was the same thing. On the argument it appeared that the real claim was that stated at the outset of this opinion, and that such claim had developed in the taking of testimony in advance of trial, so that the defendant was fully aware of it. The trial judge accordingly formulated and allowed an amendment to state the real facts claimed, and denied the motion to nonsuit. Both rulings are assigned for error. There was a motion to nonsuit when plaintiffs rested, which was denied, and this point is argued, but, as no exception was entered, we need not consider it. At the end of the case, there was a motion to direct a verdict for defendant, also denied, and exception entered. This will be considered in due course.

We think there was no error either in making the amendment or in the refusal of a nonsuit after the opening of plaintiffs' counsel to the jury. The complaint was perhaps not artistically drawn, and the opening was somewhat attenuated, but the trial court, by appropriate questions, discovered the gravamen of the charge, and by amendment incorporated in the complaint sufficient allegations of fact to show a duty owed the plaintiffs by the defendant, and a negligent disregard thereof to the plaintiffs' injury. The action taken by the trial court was well within its discretion, and occasioned no surprise whatever to defendant's counsel. The sidewalk so constructed as to endanger the safety of business visitors was pleaded and answered at first, so that no surprise was occasioned by the amendment. The complaint alleges a duty to maintain a sidewalk free from pitfalls and hidden obstructions. The amendment, as we read it in the light of the colloquy of court and counsel, alleges the duty to maintain a sidewalk free from a cinder...