Sutton v. Great Lakes Greyhound Lines

• Decision Date: 16 September 1943
• Docket Number: No. 580.,580.
• Citation: 51 F. Supp. 715
• Parties: SUTTON v. GREAT LAKES GREYHOUND LINES, Inc.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Kentucky

51 F. Supp. 715

SUTTON v. GREAT LAKES GREYHOUND LINES, Inc.

No. 580.

District Court, W. D. Kentucky, Louisville Division.

September 16, 1943.

Donald R. Atkinson, of Nashville, Tenn., and Howard O. Hunn and Bullitt & Middleton, all of Louisville, Ky., for plaintiff.

Robert P. Hobson and Woodward, Dawson & Hobson, all of Louisville, Ky., for defendant.

MILLER, District Judge.

The plaintiff, a citizen of Tennessee, seeks by this action to recover from the defendant, Great Lakes Greyhound Lines, Inc., an Indiana corporation, doing business in Kentucky, $11,100 as damages suffered by her while being transported as a passenger on one of the defendant's busses from Detroit, Michigan, to Nashville, Tennessee. The defendant has moved to dismiss the complaint because of its failure to state a cause of action, and also to require the plaintiff as a non-resident to execute a bond for costs.

The petition as amended alleges that when the bus in which the plaintiff was riding arrived at a point on U. S. Highway No. 42 in Trimble County, Kentucky, the operator negligently drove the bus into a swiftly moving stream of floodwater which extended across the highway causing the motor to be flooded and the bus to be stopped; that the operator with negligent and careless disregard of the safety of the passengers ordered and forced the passengers including the plaintiff to get out and to attempt to wade through the floodwaters without knowing the depth or their extent; that the plaintiff in attempting to do so was swept by the current off her feet and thrown into the water and almost caused to drown; and that by reason thereof she was made sick, suffered impairment to her health and her earning capacity, was damaged in her clothing and was required to obtain necessary medical treatment. Defendant claims that the injuries are not compensable, relying upon the well settled rule in Kentucky that except in telegraph and telephone cases there can be no recovery for mental pain and suffering resulting from the negligent act of another unaccompanied by any physical or bodily injury. McGee v. Vanover, 148 Ky. 737, 147 S.W. 742, Ann.Cas.1913E, 500; Chesapeake & O. Ry. v. Robinett, 151 Ky. 778, 152 S.W. 976, 45 L.R.A.,N.S., 433; Smith v. Gowdy, 196 Ky. 281, 244 S.W. 678, 29 A.L.R. 1353; Gardner v. Cumberland Telephone Co., 207 Ky. 249, 268 S.W. 1108. The rule, however, is not applicable to the present case. The amended complaint charges negligent operation of the defendant's bus by its agent which caused the bus to be stalled in the flooded creek with the resulting physical injuries to the plaintiff. Her claim for damages is not limited to damages by reason of fright or mental anguish. The negligence of the defendant's agent placed her in a position of danger. In directing the plaintiff to leave the bus, it was the duty of the operator to exercise care to ascertain whether the plaintiff could without injury safely remove herself to a place of safety. The complaint alleges that he negligently performed this duty. Whether the plaintiff in complying with his instructions was guilty...