Robertson v. W. Jersey & S. R. Co.

• Decision Date: 08 November 1909
• Citation: 79 N.J.L. 186,74 A. 300
• Parties: ROBERTSON v. WEST JERSEY & S. R. CO.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

74 A. 300

79 N.J.L. 186

ROBERTSON

v. WEST JERSEY & S. R. CO.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Nov. 8, 1909.

Appeal from District Court of Atlantic City.

Action by Mary Robertson against the West Jersey & Seashore Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed and rendered.

Argued June term, 1909, before REED, BERGEN, and VOORHEES, JJ.

Bourgeois & Sooy, for appellant. Lee F. Washington, for appellee.

VOORHEES, J. This is an appeal from the district court of Atlantic City. The plaintiff, who brought suit to recover damages for personal injuries, became a passenger on the defendant's car in the city of Atlantic City, as she alleges in her state of demand, to be carried to Mediterranean avenue; but the defendant by its negligence in stopping the ear carried the plaintiff past Mediterranean avenue (at which place she could have safely alighted) to the corner of Drexel avenue, that the place where the defendant stopped the car was covered with ice and snow, and that the plaintiff in trying to find her way to New Hampshire avenue slipped and fell on the ice on Drexel avenue, outside of the defendant's right of way, and fractured her wrist. The case was tried by a jury, and the entire testimony has been sent to this court. The plaintiff describes the accident as follows: "I thought I would get off at the next corner. Stop there. The train was still going, and the conductor was standing along side of me. [Line 25.] He let me out very carefully, and I put my feet in the mark of the feet which were all around in the snow. [Line 28.] It seemed to be soft. Then I went on to Drexel avenue to make my way. I seen the ice. I wasn't afraid of that because for many days I walked on it, so I went along. It became, I says, 'It's dreadful walking here.' I got on and got to the place where it was like ice, thick plate glass. Q. Smooth? A. Smooth as glass. I says, 'My, I am afraid I will fall here, and I was afraid to move one way or the other.' And that's all I remember." It appears that she had walked on Drexel avenue before falling, as she described it, "a good piece." She could not tell how far, but it might have been a quarter of a block. She further testified that when she first stepped out she got her feet in the snow. It was not slippery there as it was later on. The snow was soft, and she put her feet in it. She did not find the ice until she had gotten some distance. Just as soon as she got on the avenue she found the ground was frozen and hard. She made no objection to alighting at Drexel avenue, and the conductor made no suggestion to her that she should alight there; A motion was made to nonsuit, which was refused.

The only act of negligence attributed by the plaintiff to the...