St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co. of Texas v. Gresham

• Decision Date: 17 June 1914
• Docket Number: (No. 2369.)
• Parties: ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RY. CO. OF TEXAS v. GRESHAM.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

167 S.W. 724

ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RY. CO. OF TEXAS v. GRESHAM.

(No. 2369.)

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 17, 1914.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Fifth Supreme Judicial District.

Action by Lucile Gresham, by her next friend, against the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company of Texas. Judgment for plaintiff affirmed by the Court of Appeals (140 S. W. 483), and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

E. B. Perkins and D. Upthegrove, both of Dallas, and Scott & Ross, of Waco, for plaintiff in error. Frazier & Shurtleff, of Hillsboro, and C. L. Black, of Austin, for defendant in error.

BROWN, C. J.

This suit was instituted in the district court of Hill county by J. R. Bragg, as the next friend of Lucile Gresham, against the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company of Texas, in which it was charged: That Lucile Gresham took passage on the defendant railroad at a station named Frost, in Navarro county, to go to Hillsboro, in Hill county. She had a regular ticket, and took her seat in the car, where she remained seated until she reached her destination at Hillsboro. During the time she was on the train there was a rain that fell at some point not designated. When the train reached Hillsboro the porter, or some one in the employ of the railroad company, directed her to leave the car, as that was the station of her destination. That when she reached the platform of the car and started to descend the steps leading therefrom to the ground she found the steps to be wet and slippery, a large amount of water and mud having accumulated thereon, and on account of the condition of the steps she slipped and fell, striking her back on the steps, and sustaining severe and permanent injuries.

In her petition she claimed $25,000 damages, and charged that the condition of the steps constituted negligence on the part of the railroad company and was the cause of her injury, which occurred in this wise: When she started down the steps her feet slipped from under her, and she fell, striking the lower part of her back upon one of the steps, whereby she was greatly injured, and suffered great mental and physical pain. The negligence charged was in the failure to keep the steps upon which the passengers were to descend in a safe condition, and the proof was sufficient to authorize the jury to conclude that the dirt had accumulated upon the steps of the car through the neglect of those charged with the care of it, and that the rain which had fallen had caused the dirt so accumulated to become slippery and render the steps unsafe. The jury could have...