The City Of Atlanta v. Lwilson

• Decision Date: 31 August 1877
• Citation: 59 Ga. 544
• Parties: The City of Atlanta, plaintiff in error. v. Henry L.Wilson, defendant in error.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

59 Ga. 544

The City of Atlanta, plaintiff in error. v. Henry L.Wilson, defendant in error.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

(August Term, 1877.)

Municipal corporations. Actions. Negligence. Before Judge Hillyer. Fulton Superior Court. April Term, 1877.

Reported in the opinion.

W. T. Newman, for plaintiff in error.

L.J. Glenn & Son; Jno. T. Glenn; McCay & Trippe, for defendant.

BLECKLEY, Judge.

The declaration was demurred to generally, and the demurrer was overruled. The question is, whether any cause of action is set forth. The case made is this: Harris street, one of the public streets of the city, is fifty feet wide. Near where it crosses a branch, the city has thrown up an embankment in the street, ten feet high and two hundred yards long. This embankment is only thirty-five feet wide, fifteen feet of the street being below the embankment. The city has neglected to erect any railing or other means of protection along the embankment, for the safety of vehicles. To do this was its duty; the failure was negligence, and such negligence caused the injury now complained of, It was the duty of the city to keep the street in safe condition. By reason of the city's negligence and carelessness *in erecting the embankment and leaving it in the unprotected condition described, the plaintiff has been damaged the sum of ten thousand dollars, in this: on the 30th of June, 1875, he was driving his buggy, with himself and three small children in the same, along said street, upon the embankment, when, without fault or negligence on his part, the horses attached to the buggy became frightened at the blowing of a steam whistle in a manufacturing establishment, and made a sudden and unexpected jerk, detaching single-tree, (the same being in good order,) which struck against the legs of one of the horses, causing him to turn suddenly and upset the buggy, throwing it down the embankment, and thereby dislocating the right knee of the plaintiff, and causing other injuries to himself and his children. The injury to the knee is permanent, hasmade his leg crooked, and will cause him pain and suffering as long as he lives. He has been subjected to great expense and loss of time; has been compelled to pay physician\'s bills to the amount of five hundred dollars; has been confined to his bed for two months, and is still unable to walk about and attend to business, and is suffering great bodily pain. He could not prevent the fright of the horses, nor the detaching of the single-tree.

It will be observed that the declaration alleges negligence on the part of the defendant, specifies in what it consisted, and avers that it caused the injury. The demurrer admits all this to be true, as well as the nature of the injury, the plaintiff's freedom from fault, and the fact and extent of his damage. In Georgia, negligence is held to be a question of fact for the jury. We...