Snickles v. City of St. Joseph

• Decision Date: 03 April 1911
• Citation: 136 S.W. 752,155 Mo. App. 308
• Parties: SNICKLES v. CITY OF ST. JOSEPH.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

136 S.W. 752

155 Mo. App. 308

SNICKLES v. CITY OF ST. JOSEPH.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

April 3, 1911.

Rehearing Denied May 1, 1911.

1. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (§ 759)— STREETS—LIABILITY FOR DEFECTS.

Where a street is opened and the city has done grading on it and built a board sidewalk, the city will be liable to a pedestrian injured by negligent defects therein.

2. DAMAGES (§ 159) — PLEADING — LOSS OF EARNINGS.

Allegations of a complaint in an action against a city for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by a defect in a street, that, "as a result of such injury, her hand and wrist had been made stiff and useless, and her injuries are permanent, * * * that she was, prior to said injury, capable of earning the sum of one dollar per day by her labors, but that since her injury she has been unable to earn any sum whatever," is sufficient to support a recovery for loss of earnings.

3. DAMAGES (§ 144)—GENERAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES.

Loss of earnings is a special damage, which must be pleaded and proved.

4. HUSBAND AND WIFE (§ 126)—INJURY TO WIFE—EARNINGS OF WIFE.

A woman whose earnings as a washwoman have been lost in consequence of a personal injury may recover therefor, whether she is married or not.

5. HUSBAND AND WIFE (§ 5) — INJURY TO WIFE — RIGHTS OF HUSBAND — LOSS OF WIFE'S EARNINGS.

The housekeeping services of a married woman living with her husband belong to the husband.

6. APPEAL AND ERROR (§ 1064)—HARMLESS ERROR — INSTRUCTIONS — SUPPORT IN EVIDENCE.

Where a woman in a personal injury suit against a city was allowed by an instruction to recover damages for loss of services in keeping house, without affirmatively showing that she was single, and that the services belonged to her, such instruction was not prejudicial error, where the defendant in effect admits that she was single.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Buchanan County; C. A. Mosman, Judge.

Action by Anna M. Snickles against the City of St. Joseph. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

W. B. Norris, O. E. Shultz, and Phil A. Slattery, for appellant. Carolus & Wilcox, for respondent.

JOHNSON, J.

The case was here on a former appeal (139 Mo. App. 187, 122 S. W. 1122), and we affirmed the judgment of the trial court granting a new trial on motion of plaintiff. A second trial to a jury resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $1,500, and the cause is here on the appeal of defendant.

The evidence adduced at the second trial does not differ in material respects from that considered on the former appeal. We refer to our opinion then delivered for a statement of the facts. Complaint is made by defendant of the action of the court in assuming in its instructions to the jury that as a matter of law the city had accepted the sidewalk on which plaintiff was injured, and had become bound to exercise reasonable care to maintain it in a reasonably safe condition for travel. We dismiss this complaint with the observation that the undisputed facts in evidence justify the position of the court under the latest decision of the Supreme Court in Benton v. St. Louis, 217 Mo. 687, 118 S. W. 418, 129 Am. St. Rep. 561, and of this court in Curran v. City, 143 Mo. App. 618, 128 S. W. 203.

Defendant objects to the instruction on the measure of damages given at the request of plaintiff which told the jury that "if they find for the plaintiff that, in estimating her damages, they will take into consideration her physical injuries, if any, inflicted, the suffering, bodily pain and mental anguish, if any, endured, and her inability, if any, to perform her ordinary avocation,...