Kroeker v. Stecken

• Decision Date: 15 September 1930
• Docket Number: No. 21082.,21082.
• Citation: 31 S.W.2d 229
• Parties: KROEKER v. STECKEN et al.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

31 S.W.2d 229

KROEKER v. STECKEN et al.

No. 21082.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

September 15, 1930.

Appeal from City of St. Louis Circuit Court; James F. Green, Judge.

"Not to be officially published."

Action by Albin Kroeker against Fred Stecken, Sam Sedovic, and Anna Sedovic. Judgment for Fred Stecken. From a judgment for plaintiff, Sam Sedovic and Anna Sedovic appeal.

Affirmed.

John P. Collins, of St. Louis, for appellants.

Kelley, Starke & Hassett, of St. Louis, for respondent.

BECKER, J.

This is an action by Albin Kroeker to recover damages for personal injuries. The defendants are the lessee and lessors of certain property located in the city of St. Louis.

Plaintiff's petition alleges that on the 3d day of August, 1925, while he was in the employ of the Sieloff Packing Company, as chauffeur in charge of one of its delivery trucks, he was required to deliver fifteen cans of lard to the defendant Fred Stecken, who was the owner of a baking shop located at 1801 South Twelfth street, a part of which building said Stecken was the lessee of, and defendants Sam Sedovic and his wife, Anna, were the owners thereof. It is further alleged that upon arriving at the premises plaintiff was instructed to deliver the lard to the basement of the building; that to gain access to the basement, which was used in common by the defendants and other tenants of the building, it was necessary to use a flight of steps located in the rear of and on the outside of the building; that, while using the said stairway in carrying the cans of lard into the basement, one of the steps broke, causing plaintiff to fall and sustain injury. The petition charges negligence on the part of the defendants in that the steps leading down into the basement were not at the time he received his alleged injury in reasonably safe condition; that they were unsafe and dangerous for the purposes for which same were to be used, in that the boards and joists supporting said steps and stairway, and the treads of the steps, were old, weak, decayed, cracked, broken, and of insufficient strength to hold persons lawfully using said steps; that defendants failed to and omitted to inspect said stairway and steps and the treads thereof when, by the exercise of ordinary care, defendants could have done so and discovered the condition of the said steps and prevented plaintiff's said injury.

The answers were general denials coupled with pleas of contributory negligence. The replies were conventional.

On the trial of the case the verdict of the jury was in favor of defendant Fred Stecken and against the defendants Sam and Anna Sedovic in the sum of $5,000. The said Sedovics in due course bring this appeal.

The assignment of error here urged is that upon the record plaintiff failed to show either that the appellants knew of the defects in the steps or that an examination of the steps would have disclosed any of the alleged defects, and that therefore the trial court erred in overruling the demurrer offered by the defendants at the close of the case.

The point is without merit. The record discloses that plaintiff testified that he had not...