Hughes v. East St. Louis City Lines

• Decision Date: 08 April 1941
• Docket Number: No. 25644.,25644.
• Citation: 149 S.W.2d 440
• Parties: HUGHES v. EAST ST. LOUIS CITY LINES.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

149 S.W.2d 440

HUGHES v. EAST ST. LOUIS CITY LINES.

No. 25644.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

April 8, 1941.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Thomas J. Rowe, Jr., Judge.

"Not to be reported in State Reports."

Action by Etta Hughes against the East St. Louis City Lines, a corporation, for personal injuries. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

Reversed and remanded.

Jones, Hocker, Gladney & Grand and Lon Hocker, Jr., all of St. Louis, for appellant.

Louis E. Miller and Robert R. Adams, both of St. Louis, for respondent.

SUTTON, Commissioner.

This is an action for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff while a passenger on defendant's motorbus, resulting from an accident which occurred at the intersection of Twenty-fifth and Waverly Streets, in East St. Louis, as the motorbus was turning from Twenty-fifth Street into Waverly Street.

The petition alleges "that the said motorbus was so carelessly and negligently managed, operated and controlled that it was caused to and did execute a sudden, violent and unusual turn, and as a direct and proximate cause of the negligence and carelessness of defendant aforesaid, plaintiff was caused to be thrown with great force and violence from a seat to the aisle of said motorbus, and that as a direct and proximate result of the negligence, carelessness and mismanagement of the defendant, by and through its agent and servant in charge of the said motorbus, plaintiff was caused to suffer severe and permanent injuries."

Plaintiff testified that the motorbus, traveling at a speed of twenty-five to thirty miles per hour, made a sharp turn from Twenty-fifth Street into Waverly Street, in a sudden, violent and unusual manner, causing plaintiff to be thrown from her seat to a sitting position on the floor of the motorbus. She was corroborated by a number of witnesses.

Claude B. Haynes, driver of the motorbus, testified for defendant, that the motorbus stopped on entering Waverly Street and made the turn in low gear when the plaintiff fell.

Peter Hansen, a passenger on the motorbus, testified for defendant, that the motorbus stopped before entering Waverly Street to discharge a passenger, and went around the corner at a slow speed.

Anna Mae Doussard, a passenger on the motorbus, testified for defendant, that the motorbus stopped to discharge a passenger, and as the motorbus made the turn in low gear around the corner, plaintiff, who had been leaning across the aisle talking to some one, fell off her seat.

The trial with a jury resulted in a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $3,000. Judgment was given accordingly. Defendant appeals.

Defendant assigns error here for the giving of plaintiff's main instruction, which, so far as pertinent here, is as follows:

"And if you believe from the evidence that the defendant's agent in charge of the said motorbus caused the said motorbus to be turned in a sudden, violent and unusual manner from Twenty-fifth Street into Waverly Street, and as a direct result thereof the plaintiff was caused to be thrown from her seat to the aisle of the said motorbus and to be injured, the presumption is that it was occasioned by some negligence of ...