MacGregor v. Tinker Realty Co., A--647
Decision Date | 06 October 1955 |
Docket Number | No. A--647,A--647 |
Citation | 117 A.2d 45,37 N.J.Super. 112 |
Parties | Ann MacGREGOR, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TINKER REALTY CO., Inc., a New Jersey Corporation, Defendant-Respondent. . Appellate Division |
Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
Harold Jacobs, Hackensack, for appellant.
George F. Losche, Hackensack, for respondent (Charles C. Shenier, Hackensack, attorney).
Before Judges CLAPP, JAYNE and FRANCIS.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
JAYNE, J.A.D.
In undertaking to determine the existence of a cause of action, knowledge of the basic factual premise is indispensable. Accordingly the accredited circumstances of the present case must be initially recognized.
The plaintiff was a tenant of an apartment building owned and conducted by the defendant at No. 40 Passaic Street in Hackensack. A snowstorm occurred in the vicinity on January 12, 1954 and the snowfall continued until the morning of January 14, 1954, when the defendant's building superintendent excavated a narrow path in the fallen snow on the sidewalk of Passaic Street in front of the apartment premises for the use of the plaintiff, other tenants of the building, and presumably for the convenience of pedestrians in general.
In utilizing the path upon her departure from the building on the morning of January 14, 1954 the plaintiff slipped on an 'undercoating of ice' which the superintendent had not eliminated from the bottom surface of his excavation. The plaintiff instituted the present action to recover from the defendant compensatory damages for the injuries and losses she sustained in the mishap.
At the very inception of the trial the prosecution of her alleged cause of action was challenged, for upon the conclusion of her attorney's opening address to the jury a motion was made on behalf of the defendant for an involuntary dismissal of the plaintiff's action. Upon reflection the trial judge resolved that the motion was meritorious and the action was dismissed. The propriety of the determination of the trial judge is the subject of this appeal.
The introductory statement to the jury of the plaintiff's alleged cause of action was relatively concise. It imparted the facts hereinbefore mentioned and exhibited the theoretical rationale upon which the plaintiff sought to maintain her legal right to a recovery of damages from the defendant.
The following quotations are illustrative:
'Now, the landlord reserved the right to common approaches to this particular house, not only the steps and the front door, but also the sidewalk in front of this, so people would be able to use the sidewalk and use the steps to go into the building.
The thesis of the plaintiff is that a landowner in the removal of snow from the adjacent public sidewalk owes a greater or different duty of care to his tenant than that owing to a member of the public. The postulate is that the abutting...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Yanhko v. Fane
...Inc., 110 N.J.Super. 541, 266 A.2d 304 (App.Div.1970), certif. den. 57 N.J. 138, 270 A.2d 40 (1970); MacGregor v. Tinker Realty Co., 37 N.J.Super. 112, 117 A.2d 45 (App.Div.1955), I do note that judicial expression on this question is not uniform. In Krug v. Wanner, 28 N.J. 174, 145 A.2d 61......
-
Krug v. Wanner
...accident may perhaps have been lacking (cf. Taggart v. Bouldin, 111 N.J.L. 464, 168 A. 570 (E. & A.1933); MacGregor v. Tinker Realty Co., 37 N.J.Super. 112, 117 A.2d 45 (App. Div.1955)), there was at least sufficient evidence to establish that the plaintiff suffered injury on March 17, 1956......
-
Casale v. Housing Authority of City of Newark
...present if there had been no attempt to shovel any of the 7.4 inches of snow from the stairway. Cf. MacGregor v. Tinker Realty Co., 37 N.J.Super. 112, 115, 117 A.2d 45 (App.Div.1955). The rule, as stated in the cases herein cited, is that a municipal corporation (and hence the defendant), t......
-
Foley v. Ulrich, A--945
...543, 545, 181 A. 46 (E. & A. 1935); Corbett v. Warner, 137 N.J.L. 281, 59 A.2d 597 (Sup.Ct.1948); MacGregor v. Tinker Realty Co., 37 N.J.Super. 112, 115, 117 A.2d 45 (App.Div.1955); see, also, Saco v. Hall, 1 N.J. 377, 381, 63 A.2d 887 (1949); Gentile v. National Newark & Essex Bkg. Co., 53......