Miller v. Metropolitan St. Ry. Co.

• Citation: 102 S.W. 592,125 Mo. App. 414
• Parties: MILLER v. METROPOLITAN ST. RY. CO.
• Decision Date: 20 May 1907
• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)

102 S.W. 592

125 Mo. A. 414

MILLER v. METROPOLITAN ST. RY. CO.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

May 20, 1907.

1. CARRIERS — CARE TO PROTECT PASSENGERS.

Operators of a street car in the discharge of their duty to a person boarding it to become a passenger should either hold it at rest until the passenger has been given a reasonable time in which to seat himself, or, where there is no vacant seat, to reach a place where he may support himself while standing, or, if they start the car before the passenger has reached a place of safety, the start must be gradual to avoid the danger of throwing him down.

2. SAME — NEGLIGENCE — PRESUMPTIONS.

Operators of a street car who make a sudden start of the car of sufficient violence to injure a passenger proceeding with reasonable care to reach a place of security are presumptively negligent, and the presumption becomes conclusive unless it is shown that the manner of starting the car was unavoidable in the exercise of the highest degree of care.

3. SAME — PLEADINGS — EVIDENCE — INSTRUCTIONS.

Where, in an action against a street railway company, the petition charges, and the evidence of plaintiff shows, that she was thrown by a sudden and violent start of the car made when she was stepping onto the foot board to become a passenger, and the evidence of the company showed that the car did not stop and plaintiff made no attempt to board it, and the jury were told that a recovery could be had on no other ground than that plaintiff was thrown from the foot board before she had time to secure her footing, an instruction authorizing a recovery if the car was suddenly started without allowing plaintiff a reasonable time to board it and become seated thereon was not objectionable as charging, as a matter of law, that it was the duty of the company to hold the car stationary until plaintiff had been given a reasonable time in which to seat herself.

4. SAME — PROTECTION OF PASSENGERS — CARE REQUIRED.

Where an open car with a foot board along each side of it for use of passengers in boarding it stopped at a regular stopping place for the reception of passengers, it was the duty of the conductor, before giving a signal to start, to look to see that no one was in a position to be injured should the same be started, and he had no right to assume from the fact that the car had been stationary a time reasonably sufficient to transact the business at that point that no one would be endangered by starting it.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jackson County; W. B. Teasdale, Judge.

Action by Anna B. Miller against the Metropolitan Street Railway Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

John H. Lucas and Ben F. White, for appellant. Scarritt, Scarritt & Jones, for respondent.

JOHNSON, J.

Plaintiff sues to recover damages for personal injuries which she charges were caused by the negligence of defendant, She had judgment in the sum of $1,000, and defendant appealed.

From the evidence introduced by plaintiff, it appears that on the morning of July 14, 1902, she attempted to become a passenger on a west-bound cable train operated by defendant on the Eighth street line of its street railway system in Kansas City. The line consisted of two tracks; that on the north being used by west-bound and the one on the south for east-bound trains. The train, which consisted of a grip car and trailer, stopped at the intersection of Eighth and Harrison streets, a regular stopping place for the reception and discharge of passengers. Two persons boarded the grip car on the north side thereof, and plaintiff, who had just arrived from the south, crossed the track for east-bound cars, and attempted to board the grip car on the south side. This was an open car with seats on each side of a central inclosure, which was occupied by the gripman and the appliances used by him in the operation of the train. The seats were short...