Suarez v. Thompson
| Decision Date | 14 November 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 44641,44641,1 |
| Citation | 283 S.W.2d 584 |
| Parties | Manuel C. SUAREZ, Appellant, v. Guy A. THOMPSON, Trustee, Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, a Corporation, Respondent |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
T. J. Gentry, Little Rock, Ark., Koenig, Dietz & Mason, William L. Mason, Jr., St. Louis, for appellant.
Harold L. Harvey, Oliver L. Salter, Donald B. Sommers, St. Louis, for respondent.
Plaintiff's wife, Violet Suarez, was fatally injured when her body went through an open exterior vestibule door of a day coach on defendant's southbound train near Bismarck, Missouri, on which she was riding as a passenger. Plaintiff, by this action, seeks to recover $15,000 for her wrongful death, alleging that said door was under the exclusive operation and control of defendant; that it was the duty of defendant, for the safety of passengers, to keep said door closed while the train was in motion; that defendant negligently 'caused, allowed and permitted [said door] to be and remain open and unsecured'; that while moving through said vestibule Mrs. Suarez was caused by ordinary train motion or misstep to go through the open door and fall to the ground.
Defendant denied the negligence charged and pleaded that decedent's injuries were caused by her negligent or intentional acts in opening said door and attempting to leave the train when it was in motion.
At trial on the merits, the court sustained defendant's motion for a directed verdict filed at the close of plaintiff's evidence and, upon return of the verdict, entered judgment for defendant. Plaintiff, after unsuccessful motion for new trial, appealed. Defendant does not here challenge the sufficiency of the petition nor the right of plaintiff to bring the action. The sole question is whether there was substantial evidence that the door was negligently left open by defendant's servants.
Mrs. Suarez boarded defendant's passenger train No. 7 at St. Louis, Missouri, at 12:45 a. m., on October 10, 1950, enroute to her home in Little Rock, Arkansas. Two day coaches, T.P. Car No. 1507 and an I.G.N. Car, constituted a part of the train, the T.P. car being the forward (south) car of the two. The rear exterior door on the east side of the T.P. car is the door involved in this case. The door in question was a single door (not divided), 6'8"' in height and 2'9' in width. Two latches secured it when closed. One of these latches was on the left side (when the door was faced from the interior of the vestibule) at the normal height of a door handle and the other was directly above it, 5'8' from the bottom of the door. Both latches worked on spring mechanisms. In order to release the door, both latches had to be turned simultaneously and held turned until the door was pulled toward the interior. The door could then be opened inward until it stood at 45 degrees from its closed position. When so opened, it would remain in place against the rear coach wall. The vestibules on the T.P. car and on the I.G.N. car were each slightly in excess of four feet in depth, so that the distance from the north door of the T.P. car to the south door of the I.G.N. car was in excess of 8 1/2 feet.
Henry Williams testified in behalf of plaintiff. He is an employee of defendant and was porter on train No. 7 on the night Mrs. Suarez came to her death. Mr. Missey was the conductor. It is one of witness' duties to keep the doors on the train closed. Passengers are not permitted to open exterior vestibule doors when the train is in motion. Only the conductor and witness had that right. Mrs. Suarez was first seated in the I.G.N. (rear) car, but soon went forward into the T.P. car, at which time witness 'noticed her acting kind of strange'. The train was scheduled to arrive at De Soto at 1:55 a. m., and at Bismarck at 3:00 a. m. While the train was at De Soto, Mr. Missey opened the east rear exterior vestibule door of the T.P. car (the door here involved). When the train left De Soto, witness went to the T.P. car. Witness watched Mrs. Suarez after leaving De Soto. She started to the baggage car ahead (south) of the T.P. car, and witness followed her because she was acting strange. She came back and sat down in the T.P. car where some men were playing cards. Shortly before reaching Bismarck, witness heard she had disappeared from the train and went to the rear of the T.P. coach and there saw the east rear exterior vestibule door of the T.P. car open.
On cross-examination, witness testified: Mr. Missey opened the door in question at De Soto to give a message to the crew of Train No. 8. Mr. Missey then closed the door and it was closed when the train left De Soto. Witness was standing by Mr. Missey when Mr. Missey closed it. The vestibule doors can be opened by passengers; they are not kept locked. Mrs. Suarez talked to the men playing cards in the T.P. car. She said
Wilbur Johnson Brown testified in behalf of plaintiff. He is a telephone clerk in the employ of defendant. He boarded train No. 7 at Tower Grove Station in St. Louis en route to Texarkana on the night Mrs. Suarez came to her death. Witness first saw her in the (rear) I.G.N. car. She later went forward into the T.P. car. Witness also went forward into that car. While witness stood near the rear of the T.P. car, Mrs. Suarez said she wanted to talk to him, to which he replied, 'All right.' Intending for her to follow him, he turned, opened the rear door leading out of the T.P. car (which has a device to slow its closing), went northward across the vestibules of the T.P. car and the I.G.N. car, opened the south door leading into the I.G.N. car, pushed it inward and, holding the door open, stepped aside for Mrs. Suarez to enter ahead of him. At this juncture, he looked backward toward the T.P. car. Mrs. Suarez was gone. He had not seen her since he had turned to leave the T.P. car, at which time she was about one foot to his rear. When she did not appear to enter the I.G.N. car, witness looked beyond the buffers between the cars and saw that the east rear exterior vestibule door of the T.P. car was opened inwardly, in place against the rear wall of the coach. When witness was going through the vestibules to open the door of the I.G.N. car, he did not look to see if the latches on the east exterior door of the T.P. car were fastened, but the door was not standing open.
On cross-examination, witness said: He would have noticed and felt the wind if the door had been open as he went through the vestibules; to the best of his knowledge it was not open. The train was going around 45 miles per hour. His conversation with Mrs. Suarez, who was a stranger to...
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