Sheffer v. Willoughby

• Decision Date: 09 November 1896
• Citation: 45 N.E. 253,163 Ill. 518
• Parties: SHEFFER v. WILLOUGHBY et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

163 Ill. 518

45 N.E. 253

SHEFFER

v.WILLOUGHBY et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 9, 1896.

Appeal from appellate court, First district.

Action by Maggie Sheffer against Charles L. Willoughby and David K. Hill to recover damages for injuries resulting from eating poisonous food in defendants' restaurant. A judgment for defendants having been affirmed by the appellate court (61 Ill. App. 263), plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.Edwin F. Abbott, for appellant.

Duncan & Gilbert, for appellees.

This was an action on the case brought by appellant against appellees to recover damages for injuries resulting to the appellant from eating an oyster stew served by them in their restaurant in Chicago on the 5th day of February, 1891. It was alleged in the declaration that the defendants were the proprietors of a public restaurant known as the ‘Boston Oyster House,’ furnishing to patrons, among other things, oyster stews; that on the 5th of February, 1891, they received the plaintiff as a guest and patron, and furnished to her a certain dish of food, known as an ‘oyster stew,’ for a certain charge paid by plaintiff, and it then became the duty of the defendants to carefully prepare the stew, of healthy and wholesome material, yet the defendants, disregarding their duty in this behalf, did carelessly, negligently, and unskillfully, and through the carelessness, negligence, and unskillfulness and default of the defendants and their servants, and for want of due care and attention to their duty, prepare and deliver to the plaintiff, to be by her eaten, an oyster stew that was not good or wholesome, but deleterious, dangerous, and poisonous; that the plaintiff, though using all due care, and without fault, then and there ate the stew, and immediately thereafter, and as the immediate and direct consequence thereof, and of said negligence and carelessness of the defendants, became and was poisoned and became sick, and was sick, and suffered terrible bodily injury, and endured great physical and mental pain, and became permanently injured, and was obliged to and did lay out and expend large sums of money in endeavoring to get healed, and claiming damages. It appears from the evidence introduced by plaintiff that she on the morning of February 5, 1895, being then in good health, accompanied by her friend Mrs. Thompson, left her home in Chicago, and spent the forenoon in shopping, and about 12 o'clock entered the restaurant of the defendants. Each ordered a stew; Mrs. Thompson eating hers; the plaintiff eating, according to her testimony, only the broth of her stew. While eating the oysters, Mrs. Thompson observed a peculiar taste in her mouth,-as she described it, ‘a brassy taste.’ This was observed soon after beginning to eat, and again about the time of finishing. Some oysters being left in the plaintiff's dish, the ladies observed that they were green, and called the attention of the waiter to the fact. He insisted, however, that the oysters were all right. After finishing their meal, they paid for the oysters and left the restaurant. As soon as they got on the steps, Mrs. Thompson began to feel sick, and both went across the street to a physician's office. Before leaving the restaurant they wrapped two of the oysters in a piece of paper, and showed them to the doctor. At the doctor's office plaintiff was taken sick; was in great agony and pain; had burning sensation and hot feeling; was sick and faint. An emetic was given to each, and they remained in the office some time; Mrs. Thompson becoming materially better; Mrs. Sheffer improving so that they were able to start home. On the street car, going home, plaintiff was taken worse. She was bloated, and her clothes had to be opened. She was removed to the platform of the car, and then to a drug store. After remaining in the drug store for some time, she was removed to her home, at State and Thirty-Seventh streets, where, from her sickness, she was confined to her bed for some three weeks. The evidence tends to show that she has never recovered from her sickness. It also appeared that from eight to nine hundred oyster stews were served in the restaurant during the noon hour. At the close of plaintiff's evidence, the court, at the request of the defendants, instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of the...