Price v. Kentucky Traction & Terminal Co.

• Citation: 207 Ky. 332,269 S.W. 303
• Parties: PRICE v. KENTUCKY TRACTION & TERMINAL CO.
• Decision Date: 30 September 1924
• Court: Court of Appeals of Kentucky

269 S.W. 303

207 Ky. 332

PRICE v. KENTUCKY TRACTION & TERMINAL CO.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

September 30, 1924

Rehearing Denied March 27, 1925.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jessamine County.

Suit by Jennie June Price against the Kentucky Traction & Terminal Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Martin T. Kelly, of Pineville, and Louis W. Arnett and C. F. Kelly both of Lexington, for appellant.

John R Allen and Wallace Muir, both of Lexington, and John H. Welch of Nicholasville, for appellee.

SAMPSON C.J.

Appellant Jennie June Price, and five other young ladies, were driving in an automobile in Lexington, on their way to school on February 8, 1922, when the car in which they were riding was suddenly and unexpectedly struck from the rear by an electric car, belonging to the appellee company, injuring appellant Price and the other five girls, one of them to the extent that she later died. This suit was brought by Miss Price to recover damages for her injury, and the court directed the jury to find and return a verdict against her. Of this she complains.

It appears that Main street and Woodland avenue intersect; that the car line runs along Main street and turns into Woodland. The accident happened on Woodland avenue early in the morning. The young ladies had stopped their car in front of the residence of the Misses Clark and sounded the horn as a signal for the young ladies to come out and enter the car on their way to school. Two of the Misses Clark, as did Miss Woodruff, answered the signal and came to the car. Two of them entered, but one went back to get her gloves. When she came out again, she did not see or hear an electric car. Once in the car the door was closed. The curtains were on. Three of the young ladies sat on the front seat and three on the rear. They started the car very slowly, and as there were some automobiles parked on the other side of the street they drove down about 50 feet on the right side of the street in order to turn. The automobile was traveling at a very slow speed as they turned across the tracks of the company. In making the turn the driver, Miss Carlotta Herndon, glanced out through the mica in the curtains to see if anything was approaching. She could only see a distance of about 25 or 30 feet up the track in the direction from which the car came and she says she did not see or hear the electric car. As they crossed the track, the electric car came up behind, striking the rear wheels of the automobile, demolishing the car and causing the injuries we have mentioned. As the curtains were on the car, no one inside saw or knew of the approach of the electric car until the crash came. One or more persons riding on the street car at the...