Johnson v. Interborough Rapid Transit Co.

Headnote

Negligence — railroads — injury to passenger from tripping over box ' left on platform of car.

Johnson v. Interborough Rapid Transit Co., 220 App. Div. 721 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment, entered April 14, 1927, upon an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, which reversed an order of the court at a Trial Term setting aside a verdict in favor of plaintiff and granting a new trial and directed the reinstatement of the verdict in an action to recover for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff through the negligence of defendant. The complaint alleged that plaintiff while attempting to alight from defendant’s subway train at Times Square station, Manhattan, tripped over an obstruction, negligently left on the platform of said train, and fell between the platform of the train and the platform of the station, sustaining the injuries complained of. The trial court set aside the verdict for plaintiff on the ground that there was no evidence sufficient to justify the inference that defendant had knowledge of the presence on the platform of the box over which plaintiff tripped. The Appellate Division reinstated the verdict on the ground that “ the evidence justified the inference that the box which obstructed the passenger’s exit was last seen by defendant's servant and in the control and possession of defend

ant. The defendant vouchsafed no explanation of the character of the box and offered no evidence that it was not an article belonging to the defendant or to one of its employees and utilized in defendant’s business.”