Court Opinion

ID: 9812901
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 22:51:25.789605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:27:10.715748
License: Public Domain

BaRNHill, J.,
concurring: The testimony of a witness conies to us in printed form after it has first been interpreted and put in narrative form' by some third party. For that reason, occasionally, it is difficult to determine just what the witness said or intended to say. This would seem to be one of those cases.
The plaintiff testified in part: “I looked over . . . and there was my heel still in the raised piece of steel and my shoe heel was caught in this piece of steel and it was still there ... I looked and there was my heel caught in this raised piece of steel in the bus.” This is the only description of the alleged cause of the accident.
If the piece of steel was “raised” as the curb of a sidewalk is raised above the level of the street or a door sill extends above the level of the floor, there is no evidence tending to show that it was other than a part of the standard construction of passenger buses. Hence no negligence is made to appear.
On the other hand, if there was a piece of steel torn or worn from its proper setting and projecting above its normal level, then it was in a state of bad repair and negligent maintenance of the passageway of the bus may be inferred.
I am persuaded the plaintiff intended to convey the meaning first indicated. Even so, the second is also a permissible interpretation of her testimony, especially in view of the statement that the shoe heel was “caught in this piece of steel.” As the question is not what we think the witness meant, but what is the meaning of the testimony when interpreted in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, I am compelled to concur in the conclusion that the court below committed no error in overruling the motion to dismiss as in case of nonsuit.
In negligence eases, ordinary care is the standard of care required of all alleged tort-feasors. Rea v. Simowitz, 225 N. C., 575. But “ordinary care,” when that term is used in defining the duty a transportation company owes to its passengers, means “the highest degree of care consistent *405with the practical operation and. conduct of its business.” One is the standard and the other is the degree of care necessary to measure up to the standard. While there is a distinct difference, I suspect this difference, to the mind of a lay jury, is the difference between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. In any event, on this record, I am unwilling to say that the error in the charge of the court in this respect was sufficiently harmful to require a new trial.
It follows that I concur in the majority opinion.