Hines v. Watkins
| Decision Date | 01 December 1920 |
| Docket Number | 24. |
| Citation | 112 A. 299,137 Md. 211 |
| Parties | HINES, Director General of Railroads, v. WATKINS. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Superior Court of Baltimore City; Morris A. Soper Judge.
"To be officially reported."
Suit by Harry Watkins against Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads. From judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Ralph Robinson, of Baltimore, for appellant.
Benjamin B. Baker and James J. Lindsay, both of Baltimore, for appellee.
The plaintiff, Harry Watkins, brought this suit against the defendant, Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, in the superior court of Baltimore City, to recover damages for personal injuries received by him while a passenger on one of the trains or cars operated by the defendant, and which he alleges were directly caused by the negligence and want of care of the defendant and without his negligence and want of care directly contributing thereto.
The trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for $35,000 and from a judgment on this verdict the defendant has brought this appeal.
Two exceptions appear to have been reserved by the defendant in the course of the trial in the court below, and these relate to the rulings of the court in granting the plaintiff's first prayer upon the measure of damages and in refusing the defendant's first, second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh prayers.
The defendant's fifth prayer was granted, and was to the effect that the burden of proof was upon the plaintiff to establish by the weight of the evidence that the plaintiff's injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendant, his agents and employees, without the negligence of the plaintiff thereto directly contributing, and unless it was shown by the weight of the evidence to the satisfaction of the jury that the injuries sustained by the plaintiff were directly and solely due to the negligence of the defendant his agents and employees, the verdict of the jury must be for the defendant.
The action and rulings of the court in granting the plaintiff's first prayer, and in refusing to grant the defendant's first, second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh prayers, it will be seen, form the basis of the two exceptions and present the only questions for our determination, on this appeal. The circumstances attending the accident which caused the alleged injuries to the plaintiff, as disclosed by the record, are substantially these: On or about the 4th day of March, 1919, the plaintiff boarded a passenger train of cars of the defendant at its station at Sparrows Point, Baltimore county, to be carried thereon as a passenger to Union Station, Baltimore City, and paid his fare as such passenger. The train consisted of 17 cars and was known as a "workman's train." When he boarded the train he was not able to find or procure a seat within the car, on account of the crowded condition of the cars of the train, but took a seat on the platform of one of the cars, and sat on the third step attached to the platform, and where he rode from Sparrows Point to Union Station, his place of destination.
The declaration avers and the proof shows that when the train reached Union Station and was within the station, moving at a slow rate of speed and about to stop for the discharge of passengers, the plaintiff, in order to protect himself from the rush of passengers from the crowded train, arose from the platform or steps of the car of the train, with his feet still resting and standing on the step or steps so attached to the platform and with his hand holding onto the guard rail, when the steps of the car suddenly and without warning of any kind broke and gave way, thereby breaking the hold the plaintiff had on the guard rail, and violently threw and precipitated him to the ground and under the moving train of cars, thereby causing the wheels of the car to pass over his limbs and other parts of his body, and also causing serious and permanent injuries to him.
The plaintiff testified that on the day of the accident and prior thereto he had been working in the angle-smith shop, t. c. at Sparrows Point, at blacksmithing, at 80 cents an hour, for eight hours a day; that the train left Sparrows Point about 4 p. m. and was scheduled to arrive at Union Station at 4:40 p. m.; that he walked along the train for a number of coaches, and not seeing any room in any of them he took a seat on the step of the platform. He testified:
"I put this knee up agin the handle of the step and set there all the way from Sparrows Point until I got to Union Station; the train was just about moving and I got up and got hold with my left hand and turned around and got hold with both hands and the bottom steps slid out from under me and my right foot...
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