Case ID: sw_193/html/1067-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PHILLIPS, C. J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

NORTHERN TEXAS TRACTION CO. v. EVANS.
    (No. 2518.)
    (Supreme Court of Texas.
    April 11, 1917.)
    1. Carriers <&wkey;321(15) — Injuries-to Passengers — Instructions.
    In an action for injuries to a passenger when thrown from the platform or step of defendant’s street car, in which the issue was whether plaintiff was thrown by a sudden movement of the car or lost his balance unaided by such movement, instructions that there could be no recovery by the plaintiff if . his fall was due to his losing his balance and hot to a sudden movement of the ear sufficiently presented defendant’s affirmative defense' that there was no sudden jerk or lurch of the car, so that the refusal of a requested special- instruction that if the car came to a stop gradually without any sudden movement or jerk the verdict should _be for defendant whether or not plaintiff was injured, was not error, since a finding that a sudden movement of the car did not cause the fall would have been equivalent for the purposes of the case to a finding that there was no such movement to cause it.
    [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Carriers, Cent. Dig. § 1332.],
    2. Carriers <&wkey;348(7, 11) — 'Injuries to Passenger-Instructions.
    An instruction that if the plaintiff took a position on the step of the car while it was in motion and did not take hold of the handholds of the ear, and this was negligence on his part and the proximate cause of his injuries, the verdict should be for the defendant, also that such should be the verdict if while occupying a position on the step the plaintiff lost his balance and fell and was not thrown by a sudden jerk or lurch of the car, was not misleading.
    [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Carriers, Cent. Dig. §§ 1403, 1405.]
    Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Second Supreme Judicial District.
    Action by L. W. Evans against the Northern Texas Traction Company. From a judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals (152 S. W. 707) affirming a judgment of the District Court for plaintiff, defendant brings error.
    Affirmed.
    Capps, Cantey, Hanger & Short and W. L. Evans, all of Ft. Worth, for plaintiff in error. A. J. Clendenen, of Ft, Worth, for defendant in error.
   PHILLIPS, C. J.

The plaintiff, Evans, either fell or was thrown from an interurban electric car operated by the defendant as it came to his alighting place. His claim was that while standing upon the rear platform preparatory to leaving the car when it stopped, he was thrown by a sudden and negligent jerk or lurch of the car. The defendant denied that there was any such movement of the car, or that it did anything to cause the plaintiff’s fall. It claimed that with cumbersome bundles in his arms and while the car was still in motion, he stepped from the platform to the step of the car, and in so doing, or in his attempt to make the step, lost his balance and fell.

The court charged the jury that if the plaintiff took a position on the step of the car while it was in motion and did not take hold of the handholds of the car, and that this was negligence on his part and the proximate cause of his injuries, the verdict should be for the defendant; also, that such should he the verdict if while occupying a position on the step the plaintiff lost his balance and fell and was not thrown by a sudden jerk or lurch of the car.

The latter instruction was also embodied in a special charge given at the defendant’s request.

A special charge was requested by the defendant to the effect that if the car came to a stop gradually and ■ without any sudden movement or jerk, a verdict should be returned for the defendant, independently of whether the plaintiff was injured. The writ pi error was granted because of the refusal of this charge.

The defendant was entitled to an affirmative presentation of its defense that there was no sudden jerk or lurch of the ear, but we think the issue was-substantially so submitted in the general charge and in the special charge given at its request.

There was no controversy as to the plaintiff’s falling from the car. The cause of his falling was the question. As to this, the case presented only two possible theories, that is, a sudden movement of the car, or the plaintiff’s losing his balance unaided by any such movement. His version was that his fall was from the platform and was due to a sudden jerk or lurch of the car. According to the testimony adduced for the defendant, he fell from the step and there was no such jerk or lurch. In the instructions given by the court the jury was told that there could be no recovery by the plaintiff if his fall was due to his losing his balance and not to a sudden movement of the car. This was an affirmative presentation of the defense that the cause of the fall was not a sudden movement of the car, and as fully conserved the rights of the defendant as would have the charge which was refused. A finding that a sudden movement of the car did not cause the fall would, under the evidence, have been equivalent to a finding that there was no such movement to cause it.

As to the criticism made of the general charge, we do not regard it as in anywise misleading when considered in its entirety.

The judgments of the District Court and Court of Civil Appeals are affirmed. 
      (§=>For other oases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numhered Digests and Indexes