Court Opinion

ID: 9664727
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:27:21.991606+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:09.309584
License: Public Domain

*147On Motion for Rehearing
ANDERSON, Judge.
In appellant’s motion for rehearing it is urged that we overlooked certain testimony brought out on plaintiff’s cross-examination which it is claimed conclusively shows that the blows struck by the operator of the bus were not in furtherance of the master’s business. The interrogation related to testimony given in a deposition, wherein plaintiff testified that after he was nudged by the operator he turned around, got off the bus and started to walk toward his car, at which time he was struck in the face by the operator. From this testimony appellant argues that a fight on the sidewalk could have no relation to the operator’s duty of maintaining his schedule.
In considering plaintiff’s evidence we are not confined to isolated portions thereof, which, standing alone, might be considered favorable to defendant. Our duty is to consider all the evidence in its most favorable aspect to plaintiff’s case. On redirect examination plaintiff testified:
“As he rose out of his seat, he came out of his seat with speed that his shoulder hit me and knocked me off balance backward.
* * ⅜ * * *
“Q. During the time that you got' out of the bus, was there any lapse of time as far as seconds or minutes between the time of the lunge and the time you were struck these blows on your head and neck and shoulders. * * * Was there any lapse of time there, in other words, did the one event occur and then time later something else occur, or did it all occur at the same time?
“A. It all occurred at one time, I mean, it was just a series.”
In view of this testimony it cannot be said, as a matter of law, that there were two assaults, one while on the bus from which plaintiff apparently suffered no damage, and the other while on the sidewalk where plaintiff sustained the injury for which he seeks damages, and which was not related to the master’s business. It seems to us that the assault committed while on the sidewalk could reasonably be considered as a continuation of the assault made while on the bus, and that the whole affair was in furtherance of the master’s business.
Appellant’s motion for rehearing or to transfer is denied.
RUDDY, P. J., and WOLFE, J., concur.