Griffin v. Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Co.
| Decision Date | 19 June 1945 |
| Citation | 188 S.W.2d 449,300 Ky. 279 |
| Parties | GRIFFIN v. LOUISVILLE TAXICAB & TRANSFER CO. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County, Common Pleas Branch First Division; Joseph J. Hancock, Judge.
Action by Lawrence William Griffin against the Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Company for personal injuries. From a judgment on a directed verdict for defendant at the conclusion of plaintiff's evidence, plaintiff appeals.
Judgment reversed, with directions.
Julius Leibson, of Louisville, for appellant.
Robert L. Page, of Louisville, for appellee.
The appeal is from a directed verdict in favor of the Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Company at the conclusion of the evidence offered by the appellant, Lawrence William Griffin. Griffin's position is that his case should have been submitted to the jury.
The action is based upon the charge that one of the appellee's employees, not the driver of the cab, closed the door of a cab on Griffin's right hand as he was entering it. Griffin, a member of the armed forces, who was receiving treatment to a finger on his left hand in an Army hospital, said that as he was entering the rear seat of a cab in front of the hospital he attempted to shield his left hand, and in so doing placed his right hand on the door facing in order to steady himself, and while in this position a taxi driver, who was assisting passengers enter the cab slammed the door on his hand. The employee who closed the door said that this was not one of his duties, but that he had been instructed to do so as a matter of courtesy to the passengers.
The trial court relied upon the case of Greene v. Burns, 142 Ky. 710, 134 S.W. 1134, in directing a verdict in favor of the Company. In that case a salesman of the Greene Furniture Company closed an extension table on a customer's hand while he was showing her the manner in which the table operated. While the customer was in a stooped position looking under the table she placed her hand in the opening and the salesman closed the table. The Company was not held liable because the injured person failed to allege and prove that the salesman at the time he closed the table knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known that her hand was in the opening. We do not believe that Greene case to be controlling here. In the case at bar we are dealing with a common carrier who owes the highest degree of care which prudent persons engaged in a similar business would be called upon to exercise for the safety of their passengers. Louisville Railway Co. v. Wilder, 143 Ky. 436, 136 S.W. 892. Ordinary care is the...
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Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Co. v. Jackson
...for hire is a common carrier and is under a duty to exercise the highest degree of care for its passengers. Griffin v. Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Co., 300 Ky. 279, 188 S.W.2d 449; Dix v. Gross, 271 Ky. 231, 111 S.W.2d The case of Nashville, C. & St. L. Ry. Co. v. Lowery's Adm'r, 148 Ky. ......
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Stallard v. Witherspoon
...of her negligence to the jury under a correct instruction, we find no error on this phase of the case. Griffin v. Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Co., 300 Ky. 279, 188 S.W.2d 449; Consolidated Products Co. v. Jackson, 308 Ky. 718, 215 S.W.2d 834. Appellants insist that the proof failed to est......
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