Greer v. McCrory
| Decision Date | 14 January 1946 |
| Docket Number | 20663 |
| Citation | 192 S.W.2d 431 |
| Parties | GREER v. McCRORY et ux |
| Court | Kansas Court of Appeals |
Walter W. Calvin and Bert S. Kimbrell, both of Kansas City, for appellants.
Cyril G. Baucke and Walter J. Gresham, both of Kansas City, for respondent.
This is an action for damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by the respondent (plaintiff) by falling down the basement steps at the residence of the appellants (defendants). The plaintiff obtained a verdict for $ 7,000 against both defendants, and judgment therefor, from which defendants have appealed.
The amended petition alleged that the plaintiff was, on March 22 1938, employed at the residence of defendants in Kansas City Missouri, as a laundress; that in the scope of her employment it was necessary for her to go from the first floor to the basement of said residence by means of a stairway provided by defendants; that defendants were husband and wife, and maintained said home; that she was employed by both and each of them; that defendants negligently caused and permitted said stairway to be in an unsafe and dangerous condition said negligence said stairway was not in a reasonably safe condition, but was unsafe and dangerous for the use and purpose for which it was provided by defendants. She alleged in detail her injuries so sustained; that the same would be permanent; that she had incurred or would be caused to incur $ 250 in medical bills, had been confined to her bed, and has been made lame and sore of body, and the natural functions of her body have been impaired, all to her damage in the sum of $ 10,000.
Defendants filed their amended joint and separate answer to said amended petition, and alleged that the plaintiff and other servants named were all at the time in question in the service of defendants, and that plaintiff and the others named aforesaid were each and all engaged as follow servants in a common work and enterprise, that of rendering service to the defendants in their home and household; that during all of said times plaintiff and said other employees were working under and were subject to the orders and directions of the same master to-wit, these defendants; that whatever injuries, if any, the plaintiff sustained at said time and place were due either to her own negligence, or to that of one or the other of said named coemployees and fellow servants, or to the combined and concurrent negligence of plaintiff and one or both of said fellow servants, and were the direct and proximate result and consequence of the risk or risks which arose out of and were incident to plaintiff's said employment, which she legally assumed. The answer further contained a general denial.
Plaintiff's reply was a general denial of new matter.
Plaintiff testified that beginning in 1933, she had done the laundry work and some times other work for the defendants at the residence of the latter in Kansas City, Missouri; that she performed this work in the basement of their residence. She described the basement steps that ascended from the basement to the first floor; a light in the basement which she said did not light the steps all the way up, making the steps dark as one descended from the top; told of a railing at the top of the stairway similar to a shelf, where different things are stored, such as fruit, vegetables, pans and other such articles. A hallway at the top of the stairway leads from the basement door to the back door, and to the back yard. There is a light near this back door. On March 22, 1938, when plaintiff arrived at 6 o'clock a.m., defendants and their daughter Harriett McCrory were at home; the maid and chauffeur had not arrived. At 8 o'clock, plaintiff started the laundry work, which included whatever was to be washed, such as rugs or mops, and other articles. She started hanging out the laundry in the back yard about 11:30, before eating lunch. She had not noticed any mop on the stairway earlier that morning, but when she came up the stairway to hang out the clothes, she noticed a mop on the landing right at the side of the steps. She had spoken to Mrs. McCrory several times before about leaving a mop on the stairway. When she was coming up the steps to hang out the clothes on the day in question, plaintiff threw the mop behind the door in the hallway. Mrs. McCrory came to the door and 'wanted to know what I was fussing about' and plaintiff told her 'If you don't quit putting the mop in the hall, somebody will fall and hurt themselves'. Mrs. McCrory was then in the kitchen with her daughter Harriett. About 3 or 3:30 in the afternoon, when plaintiff was bringing the clothes back into the house, carrying them in a basket which she held in front of her, she started down the stairway and fell over the mop, which was back on the stairway, and was thereby caused to fall, and fell all the way to the bottom. As she fell, her head hit a post near the steps from which she yet bears a scar on her forehead. She stated that Mrs. McCrory came to the landing of the stairway and asked plaintiff how she came to fall, to which plaintiff said 'That everlasting mop was there again', and plaintiff asked Mrs. McCrory who put it there, and that Mrs. McCrory said 'I set it there'. After the fall, plaintiff immediately noticed pains in her back and left shoulder, and her kness and legs were scarred and scratched; that she was sort of dazed for a while; that she heard Harriett McCrory and Mattie Sneed, the maid, calling to her from the top of the stairway. Plaintiff's legs were bleeding and Mattie Sneed helped her bathe them. Mrs. McCrory and her daughter asked her if any bones had been broken. Plaintiff had ironed all the clothes except the flat work, and she put the remaining articles which she had not been able to finish, in the basket, and Mrs. McCrory said chauffeur, to take her home. While waiting to start home she was very sore and stiff. Mrs. McCrory wanted per to go to a hospital, and plaintiff told her she had her own doctor and preferred to go home. Upon arriving home she went immediately to bed, and sent word to her sister, who came over and stayed with her. The next day her doctor was called. Plaintiff had never been hurt or injured in any accident before, and her health was good before her fall.
The doctor bandaged the plaintiff and dressed her wounds, taped her back and took her to the Wheatley Hospital to have X-rays taken, which were taken the next day. On the day following the accident, plaintiff was unable to straighten up; she was sore 'inside and all over'. She suffered pain through her back and breasts, shoulders and head, and seemed to ache all over.
Plaintiff said Mrs. McCrory, although she had been in the hospital for six months about a year or so previously, was not confined to her bed at the time referred to, and would mop and wash the floors and help the servants clean the house; that this was the condition up to the time of the accident.
On the 23d day of March, Mrs. McCrory came to see her. Plaintiff's doctor was present. Mrs. McCrory called at her residence three times thereafter, being brought there by the chauffeur, but was not otherwise assisted by anyone, and was not ill at the time. Each time she called, plaintiff was confined to her bed.
Plaintiff took medicines at the direction of her doctor for about a month. He made forty trips to see her. She was confined to bed for over two months, during which time she had difficulty in using her shoulders and arms, and could not get up, having to be pulled up by others; that she was unable to get out on the street for six months. She still suffers pain in her back and parts of her body and hip. She was unable to sleep on account of her pain, which still continues; that her back and side still bother her; she cannot work very long without getting sick, nor stoop over, nor reach up, nor climb, because of her back; that when she coughs she has pain in her breast. When she eats, her stomach bothers her; her injuries made her very nervous; she cannot relax. After the fall her legs were scarred, and the veins broken, and her legs were and still are swollen. She used salve on her limbs, alcohol rubs, and also applied a hot pad.
Plaintiff testified that she had often spoken to Mrs. McCrory about the mop, and once when she saw it in the hallway plaintiff threw it down to the basement. She had washed the mop in question many times.
On cross-examination plaintiff testified further that she was 57 years of age, and weighed about 165 pounds; that she had been going up and down the stairs in question for over five years and was familiar with them; that the bannister or handrail, shown in the photographs (Defendants' Exhs. 1 and 2), was not there at the time of her fall; that the stairway looked wider in the picture; that plaintiff had her hands full as she came down the stairway; that plaintiff had nothing to catch onto when she fell; that her feet flew out from under her when she fell; that she could not see her feet as she carried the basket, and that there was no light there, the stairs being dark; that she did not carry the basket against her body, as she was trying to see; that the basket was...
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