League v. Stradley

• Decision Date: 20 April 1904
• Citation: 47 S.E. 975,68 S.C. 515
• Parties: LEAGUE v. STRADLEY.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

47 S.E. 975

68 S.C. 515

LEAGUE v. STRADLEY.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

April 20, 1904

Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Greenville County Aldrich, Judge.

Action by Hattie K. League against C. D. Stradley. From judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Haynsworth Parker & Patterson and B. A. Morgan, for appellant. McCullough & McSwain, for respondent.

POPE C.J.

The plaintiff brought an action against the defendant to recover $5,000 damages by reason of her fall through a trapdoor in the defendant's store, in Greenville, S. C., on the 20th December, 1902; she having fractured a bone of her left limb due, she claims, to the carelessness and negligence of the defendant, as proprietor of said store. The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $500. After entry of judgment on the verdict, the defendant has appealed therefrom. His grounds of appeal are confined to the refusal of the circuit judge to grant the motion of the defendant for a nonsuit at the close of plaintiff's testimony. Such grounds of appeal are as follows:

"(1) It is submitted that the general invitation which a merchant extends to the public applies only to such portions of his premises as are open for the public, and not to those portions behind the counter or those reserved for the merchant and his employés; and it is further submitted that the evidence showed that the place where the plaintiff was injured was behind the counter, a place reserved for the defendant and his clerks, and, there being no evidence of any invitation from the defendant to enter thereon, his honor erred in not granting a nonsuit on these grounds (2) It is submitted that there was no evidence tending to show that the plaintiff was invited by the defendant to go behind the counter, where she was injured; that all that the testimony could be considered as showing was that in going there the plaintiff was acting by consent or by license of the defendant, and his honor erred in not so holding and not granting a nonsuit. (3) That his honor erred in not holding that where the customer, by the mere consent or acquiescence of the storekeeper, goes behind the counter in a place not intended for the public, she does so at her own risk, and takes the premises as she finds them. (4) It is submitted that there was no evidence tending to show that the defendant knew, or ought to have known, that the trapdoor was open at the time the plaintiff went behind the counter, nor was there any evidence tending to show that he was negligent in this regard, and the circuit judge erred in not so holding and in not granting a nonsuit. (5) The complaint alleged an express invitation to the plaintiff by the defendant to go behind the counter. The action is one for compensatory damages solely. The evidence is that the plaintiff said: 'Mr. Stradley, I have come to call for my packages,' and that the defendant said, 'All right.' The issue of invitation was a vital one. The evidence totally failed to support this allegation, and his honor erred in refusing the nonsuit."

We deem it proper to reproduce in this opinion the complaint itself which, omitting the caption and formal part, is as follows: "(1) That the plaintiff Hattie K. League is the wife of the plaintiff G. M. A. League, and they reside in the county and state aforesaid, and are the parents of 10 children, all of whom reside with them. (2) That the defendant resides in the county and state aforesaid, and was at the time hereinafter mentioned, and is now, engaged in the sale of dry goods in the city of Greenville, county and state aforesaid. (3) That on the 10th day of December, 1902, the plaintiff, Hattie K. League, by and with the knowledge and consent of the defendant, deposited certain packages of goods, which she had purchased from the defendant and others, in the storeroom of the defendant, in Greenville city, county and state aforesaid, she at that time being a customer of the said defendant. (4) That thereafter, to wit, on the said 19th day of December, 1902, she went into the place of business of the defendant and called for her packages, and was told by the defendant to go and get the same, which she proceeded to do; that she went behind the counter where she had placed the said packages, and by and with the knowledge and consent of the said defendant, and upon his invitation, in the manner aforesaid, and as she went behind the counter where her packages were deposited, she fell through an open trapdoor, which the defendant had, carelessly and negligently, subsequently opened, or permitted to be opened and let remain open there, without giving this plaintiff any notice or warning with reference thereto, and as to the existence of which she was ignorant, and the said plaintiff fell several feet through the said trapdoor. (5) That after the plaintiff, Hattie K. League, had fallen through said trapdoor, the defendant, hearing her cries and exclamation of pain, came to her assistance, and, instead of having her carried without effort upon her part from where she had fallen, as ordinary care would have dictated, caught hold of her arm, and tried to assist her in that way--the said plaintiff, Hattie K. League, exclaiming that she was unable to walk--and, as the said defendant had hold of her arm and was coaxing her to walk up the said steps, plaintiff felt her left leg give way, and she suffered also great, excruciating physical pain and mental anguish. (6) That as a result of the said injury, which was due to the carelessness and negligence of the defendant in the manner above detailed, the plaintiff, Hattie K. League, was confined to her bed some six weeks, suffered great and excruciating physical pain and mental anguish, and the plaintiff expended large...