Court Opinion

ID: 9668701
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:22:49.463483+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:51:11.313235
License: Public Domain

PRITCHARD, Commissioner
(dissenting).
Plaintiff, a child approximately sixteen months old at the time of her alleged injury., has appealed from a judgment of dismissal of her petition for damages for personal injuries in the amount of $18,500. The ground for the appeal, is that the trial court erred in sustaining defendant’s motion to dismiss the petition for failure to state a claim for relief and upon the trial court’s stated reason that “It could not be reasonably foreseen that plaintiff would eat plaster, and be injured.”
Plaintiff’s petition is as follows:
“Comes now plaintiff, a minor, by and through her duly appointed next friend, and for her cause' of fiction against *870Defendant herein states to the Court as follows:
I
“That at all times hereinmentioned defendant was and is now a corporation duly organized and existing under the laws of'this state and engaged in the general real estate business in the area of Metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri.
II
“That on or about the 31st day of July, 1962, defendant owned a multiple dwelling house located at 5645 Cates Avenue, City of St. Louis, Missouri.
III
“That at all times hereinmentioned plaintiff resided at the aforesaid premises together with her family who were tenants of defendant.
IV
“That on pr about the 31st day of July, 1962, plaintiff was approximately sixteen months of age and was situated in the common hallway located in the abovementioned premises at which time plaintiff consumed pieces of plaster which had been allowed to' fall from the ceiling and wall of said common hallway and plaintiff, as the direct result of the negligence and carelessness of defendant in the maintenance of said common hallway, sustained serious and permanent injuries.
V
“That the aforesaid common hallway, and at the point where said plaster had fallen, was in a dangerous and unsafe • condition as a result of said fallen plaster, the walls and ceilings thereof being in a rotted and decayed condition; that said condition had existed for a sufficient length of time and defendant knew or by the exercise of ordinary care should have know— that said condition was dangerous and unsafe for persons in the area and more particularly those of tender years such as plaintiff, as said pieces of fallen plaster were poisonous to the human system and would likely have been consumed by such persons.
VI
“That plaintiff’s injuries and damages were the direct and proximate result of the negligence and carelessness of defendant in the following particulars:
“A) Defendant negligently and carelessly maintained said common hallway and the walls and ceilings thereof in a rotted and decayed condition so as to allow pieces of plaster to fall therefrom to the floor and created said dangerous condition.
“B) Defendant negligently and carelessly failed and omitted to remove from said hallway said fallen pieces of plaster.
VII
“That as a direct result of defendant’s negligence and carelessness aforesaid plaintiff was caused to suffer from a condition of lead poisoning and iron deficiency anemia; that plaintiff vomited and was nauseated; that plaintiff was caused to be hospitalized for a period of two weeks; that plaintiff’s stomach and internal organs and circulatory system were damaged and impaired; that said injuries are serious and permanent; that plaintiff was caused to suffer great pain of body and mind as a result of said injuries and will in the future so suffer; that plaintiff has been caused to undergo medical care and treatment and will be caused to undergo same in the future.
“WHEREFORE, plaintiff prays for judgment against defendant in the amount of EIGHTEEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS (18,-*871500.00) together with her costs herein expended.”
We defer to the well-established rule that in adjudging plaintiff’s petition as to its sufficiency in stating a claim upon which relief may be granted we must deem her well-pleaded allegations to be true and give them a liberal construction, according thereto their reasonable and fair intendment. Dallas v. City of St. Louis, Mo., 338 S.W.2d 39; Fitzpatrick v. Federer, Mo., 315 S.W.2d 826.
It is pleaded that there is a common hallway on defendant’s premises, and it may therefore be concluded that defendant had the control over the hallway and was charged with the duty to keep and maintain it in a reasonably safe condition for its tenants, and if it failed to do so and an injury occurred as a proximate result of such failure, defendant would be answerable in damages for its negligence. Darlington v. Railway Exchange Bldg., 353 Mo. 569, 183 S.W.2d 101; Wilson v. Jones, Mo.App., 182 S.W. 756.
Plaintiff’s contention with respect to the foreseeability issue presented (that plaintiff would eat plaster and be injured) is that if the defendant’s conduct produces injury to another, the fact that defendant neither foresaw nor should have foreseen the extent of harm or the manner in which it occurred does not absolve it from liability; that it is not necessary that plaintiff demonstrate that the particular consequences of such negligence could have been foreseen, but only that the injuries are the natural, although not the necessary and inevitable result of defendant’s negligence, and defendant may be liable for anything which appears to be the natural and probable consequence of his act or omission. Plaintiff says further that defendant is required only to foresee that harm in some manner will result from the alleged negligent conduct in permitting the fallen plaster to be in the common hallway of defendant’s premises.
Defendant asserts that the alleged- facts do not impose upon defendant any duty to protect its tenants from any such'remote and unforeseeable consequence; that the duty of a defendant does not extend to a result which is extraordinary and unusual and not the natural and probable consequences of his act or omission.
Thus the parties are in accord that the rule upon “foreseeability” in negligence cases in Missouri is that some injury as a result of the negligent act or omission must have been reasonably foreseeable. “The question is not whether the particular injury under consideration should have been anticipated, but whether, after the occurrence, such injury then appeared to have been the reasonable and probable consequence of the negligent act or omission. And, it is immaterial that the precise manner in which the injury occurred was neither foreseen nor foreseeable.” Phillips v. Stockman, Mo.App., 351 S.W.2d 464, 474. See also Tharp v. Monsees, Mo., 327 S.W.2d 889, 894 [6], where this court said: “It is of course unnecessary that the party charged should have anticipated the very injury complained of or anticipated that it would have happened in the exact manner that it did. All that is necessary is that he knew or ought to have known that there was an appreciable chance some injury would result.”
The question which is resolved under the alleged facts of this case and the briefs of the parties is whether or not the occurrence in controversy was so extraordinary and unusual that defendant could not and would not be held to have expected or foreseen it so that it would have been under a duty to take precautionary measures which would have prevented the incident.
Under the alleged facts of this case, it is seen that plaintiff, being a small child, rightfully in the common hallway where defendant could reasonably anticipate she would be, might pick up the easily accessible poisonous plaster from the floorway where *872it had fallen from the walls and ceiling which were in a decayed and rotted condition. We take judicial notice of facts relating to the habits, curiosity and propensities of small children, 31A C.J.S. Evidence § 80, p. 93; Haberly v. Reardon Company, Mo., 319 S.W.2d 859, 868 [11] (child’s proclivity to assist parent who was painting with Bondex); Ozbun v. Vance, Mo., 323 S.W.2d 771, 775 [3, 4] (acts of a child four years old are wholly unpredictable and they are almost entirely devoid of an appreciation of danger) ; 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 12 b, p. 400. Thus, it is common knowledge, by which defendant may be charged, that children such as the plaintiff have a natural proclivity to place all kinds of objects in their mouths, and that their parents or custodians constantly must be on guard to prevent their doing this and to train them not to do so. Under the pleaded circumstances here, it could reasonably be foreseen that this small child would thus ingest the foreign poisonous substance, made accessible to her by defendant’s lack of due care, into her system and be thereby injured. See Acosta v. Irdank Realty Corp., 38 Misc.2d 859, 238 N.Y.S.2d 713, where the infant plaintiff ate lead paint which peeled off walls and which had fallen to the floor in a multiple dwelling. The court there said with respect to the occurrence 'being reasonably foreseeable, “that small children go around the house picking up everything within their reach and placing it in their mouths and attempting to eat it is well known. They often have a craving to put in their mouths and eat most unusual things. It would not be unreasonable, therefore, , to foresee that Yvette would pick up pieces of plaster and paint if they were lying around and eat them.”
We appreciate defendant’s position that it is not an insurer for the safety of plaintiff, and we note the cases cited upon the proposition that it is not negligence not to take precautionary measures to prevent an injury, which if taken, would have prevented it, when the injury could not reasonably have been anticipated and would not, unless under exceptional circumstances, have happened. Mann v. Pulliam, 344 Mo. 543, 127 S.W.2d 426; American Brewing Association v. Talbot, 141 Mo. 674, 42 S.W. 679, 682. See also 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 108, p. 661. However, under the pleaded circumstances of this case, we hold that the occurrence was not so unusual, extraordinary and exceptional that defendant could not reasonably be held to have foreseen that the infant plaintiff would ingest the deleterious substance as a natural and probable consequence of defendant’s negligent omission of duty in keeping the walls and ceiling of its hallway in good repair. 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 66, p. 558.
It is our view that the judgment of dismissal of plaintiff’s petition should be reversed and the cause remanded.