Ward v. Chicago Transit Authority
| Decision Date | 24 September 1964 |
| Docket Number | Gen. No. 49415 |
| Parties | Reverend Bernard WARD, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY, a Municipal Corporation and Norman Davis, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Louis M. Leider, Chicago, for appellant.
William J. Lynch, William S. Allen and Harry I. Parsons, Chicago, for appellees.
The only question presented by this appeal is the adequacy of the damages awarded the plaintiff, Bernard Ward, in his personal injury suit against the Chicago Transit Authority. A jury returned a verdict for $1,000.00 and judgment was entered for this amount.
On May 30, 1956, about 6 P.M., Bernard Ward was returning home on one of the C.T.A.'s buses. He alighted at an intersection, intending to transfer to a bus traveling in a different direction. A bus proceeding in his intended direction stopped at the corner and a woman, whom Ward presumed to be a passenger, boarded. However, when he attempted to follow he was told by the driver that he should take the next bus. He later learned that the woman who had boarded just ahead of him was not a passenger but the wife of the driver and that the bus had reached the end of its run. While Ward was standing with one foot on the step of the bus with his hand grasping the hand railing, the bus started to move, throwing him to the pavement.
The evidence is contradictory as to exactly what took place at this time. Ward testified he was knocked unconscious by the fall and that when he regained his senses he was lying in the street with one of the front wheels of the bus pinning his legs. He said that the driver backed the bus up a short distance, helped him to his feet and into the bus where he was placed on the long seat just behind the driver. His trousers were torn and his legs were scraped. The evidence on behalf of the C.T.A. was that Ward had fallen to the street but that the wheels of the bus had not touched him, and that it had not been necessary for the driver to back up the bus. The driver testified that although he helped Ward to his feet, Ward got on the bus and took a seat without assistance. The driver saw that the trousers were torn on one leg but did not see any blood.
Ward was driven to the bus barns and from there the police took him to the emergency room at St. George's Hospital. His legs were massaged, scrubbed and bandaged. The total bill for these services was $9.00.
Ward further testified that his legs pained him severely that evening and a telephone call was made to a Doctor Lewis. He went to see Doctor Lewis at Provident Hospital the next morning and the doctor diagnosed his injuries as severe abrasions and contusions of both legs from which blood was oozing; he also found lumbo-sacral strain. Dr. Lewis placed him under observation for nine days at the Provident Hospital where he was given various treatments and an x-ray examination. The total hospital bill was $208.75. He continued to see Dr. Lewis until November of 1956, and continued to receive medical treatment. At Dr. Lewis' request he consulted a Dr. Hasbrouk, an office associate of Dr. Lewis. Medical Bills owed Dr. Lewis totaled $240.00 and the charge for the single consultation with Dr. Hasbrouk was $35.00. The plaintiff testified that during this period and for some time thereafter he found it necessary to use crutches and later a cane, and that he still found walking quite difficult.
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