Kurre v. Graham Ship by Truck Co.

• Decision Date: 05 November 1932
• Docket Number: 30637.
• Citation: 136 Kan. 356,15 P.2d 463
• Parties: KURRE v. GRAHAM SHIP BY TRUCK CO.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

15 P.2d 463

136 Kan. 356

KURRE v. GRAHAM SHIP BY TRUCK CO.

No. 30637.

Supreme Court of Kansas

November 5, 1932

Syllabus by the Court.

Truck transportation company which maintained freight depot extended invitation to business visitors to enter premises and transact necessary business.

Business visitor to freight depot of truck transportation company acted within scope of invitation while looking for shipping clerk to receipt for goods.

Business invitee who enters premises and follows unfamiliar course in dark, resulting in injury, is contributorily negligent.

In action for damages for injuries sustained by business invitee at freight depot of truck transportation company, evidence held to establish invitee's contributory negligence as matter of law.

1. Where a transportation company maintains a depot for the purpose of receiving freight for shipment, it thereby extends an invitation to business visitors to enter upon the premises and transact the necessary business for the shipment of goods, and a business visitor is within the scope of the invitation while looking for a shipping clerk to receipt for the goods.

2. Where a business invitee enters the premises of the inviter and follows a course of his own choosing, with which he is unfamiliar and is so dark that he cannot see, resulting in his injury, he is guilty of contributory negligence.

Appeal from District Court, Wyandotte County, Division No. 4; Charles A. Miller, Judge.

Action by John Kurre against the Graham Ship by Truck Company. Judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant appeals.

J. E McFadden and O. Q. Claflin, both of Kansas City, Kan., and O C. Mosman, Clay C. Rogers, Paul A. Buzard, and Don E. Black all of Kansas City, Mo., for appellant.

David F. Carson, of Kansas City, Kan., for appellee.

SLOAN J.

This was an action to recover damages for a personal injury. The plaintiff prevailed, and the defendant appeals.

The appellant maintained a freight depot at the southeast corner of Eighth and Hickory streets in Kansas City, Mo., for the purpose of receiving articles of merchandise to be transported by trucks to various places outside of Kansas City. The building faced the north on Eighth street and was about 100 feet wide. It extended south along the east line of Hickory street about 110 feet. The dock, or floor of the building, was about 4 1/2 feet above the level of the street. It extended the full length of the building from north to south and was about 30 or 31 feet wide. There were six large doors about 8 feet wide and 10 feet high along the west side of the building. These doors were located so that trucks loaded with merchandise could be backed up to the dock and the merchandise unloaded immediately on to the floor or dock. The office was at the north end of the dock and was partitioned off from and extended the full width of the dock. There was a door leading from the dock into the office. On the front or north side of the building immediately east of the office was a large door entering on to a dock, which extended south about as far as the office. Immediately to the east of this dock and at the northeast corner of the building was a large door and driveway through which trucks loaded with merchandise were driven in order that they might be unloaded on the dock on the inside of the building. At the southeast corner of the office was a small platform about 4 feet square which was made for the purpose of enabling employees to go from the north dock to the east dock. From this platform there was a stairway leading to the ground. The platform was about 4 feet above the ground. The appellee was an employee of the Joseph Baum Packing Company and had been directed to deliver two packages of beef to the appellant for shipment. The appellee was not familiar with the arrangement of the building and had not, prior to the accident, been in the building. He reached the depot between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning and backed his wagon up to the second door on the west or Hickory side of the depot for the purpose of unloading the beef upon the dock. The door was open, but he does not remember whether the other doors were opened or closed. His version of what he did is as follows:

"I pulled the meat off and hollered for a receiving clerk. Nobody replied. There was nobody there. I saw a little dim light back there behind the office, what they call the office, now I find out later. A little dim light there behind the office I guess. The light was outside of the office, a little dim night light and I heard a voice there and I kept on walking and hollering, and when I get in there, between the other sacks and boxes, I stepped off with my left (foot).

"When I heard this voice I walked a little closer in the direction of the voice. On the way down there I saw there were other boxes of freight in the warehouse. I saw boxes and sacks I guess to be shipped. They were all right there behind the emergency dock and the receiving dock. *** When I couldn't see anybody I thought I heard some voices somewhere. I heard somebody away back in there, so then I walked on back there, walking east from the door. *** I walk around where it was vacant there; where there was nothing on the floor. I had to pick my way around between these boxes and kegs and sacks. *** I continued to walk on in as near a straight line as I could dodging these boxes. *** All this time I was yelling for somebody but nobody answered me, so I kept on walking and the first thing I know, I walked off the edge of the dock. ***

"Q. Did you keep on walking right along? A. Not fast, I walked slow.

"Q. And you tell the jury that it was so dark you couldn't see anything in front of you? A. It was dark; I didn't know there was a dock there. I couldn't see anything in front.

"Q. Were you looking to see where you were stepping? A. Yes, I tried dodging them sacks and boxes.

"Q. But you got over to a place where it was so dark you couldn't tell whether there was any floor there or not? A. No.

"Q. That is right? That was the situation? And you were not feeling as you put your foot ahead? A. No, I didn't know where I was for ten minutes after I fell.

"Q. I am talking about before you fell. A What do you mean?

"Q. You didn't put your foot out to see if there was any floor underneath you? A. Well, I tried to feel it. I am very careful there. But I guess I didn't go far enough. ***

"Q. Yes, but as you put your foot forward-- A. I did.

"Q. (Continuing) Did you feel with your foot? A. I didn't feel anything; I feel the solid floor.

"Q. Oh, you were feeling up to that time? A. Yes.

"Q. And then you took another step and stepped off the edge? A. Yes.

"Q. And the place where you fell off was about the same height above the floor as this place where you had unloaded your meat? A. Something like that, I guess, about the same height, I guess. ***

"Q. You were not going toward the light were you? A. Well, I heard a voice right there, you know, and the light didn't show up no light at all so you could see.

"Q. Were you walking toward the light, or not? A. No, I was just walking toward the voice that I hear somebody. ***

"With reference to these steps I fell right here and the steps was right up against here, wasn't but about three feet away from where I fell and hit them steps, my shoulder against them steps, my head and shoulder. I was about three feet away from the steps. Afterwards I discovered there was a place where I could have gone down them steps."

The appellee received a severe injury. The extent of the injury is not contested by the appellant. The appellant demurred to the evidence, which was overruled by the court. On behalf of the appellant, William C. Morton testified that he was an employee of the appellant and at the time of the injury he was checking off a lead of merchandise at the third or fourth door on the west side of the depot when the appellee unloaded the beef on the dock; that he spoke to the appellee and told him he was busy and would get to him in a few minutes; that he noticed the appellee standing on the dock, but did not see him walk off, and did not know he was injured until he found him on the dock holding his arm and apparently suffering.

A verdict was returned and a judgment entered in favor of the appellee in the amount of $2,000.

The appellant assigns as error the court's ruling on the demurrer to the evidence. It contends, first, that the appellee was not an invitee at the time he was injured; and second, that he was guilty of negligence as a matter of law. It is argued that when the appellee, on his own volition, started to explore the freight house he ceased to be an invitee and became a licensee to whom the appellant owed no duty. The appellant maintained a freight station or depot for the purpose of receiving merchandise to be shipped...