Murphy v. City of New York

This action is to recover damages for a personal injury, sustained by plaintiff in stepping into a hole in a cement sidewalk, alleged to have been of such size and to have existed a sufficient length of time to charge the defendant with constructive notice of its defective condition. The plaintiff testified that the hole was so large that her entire foot went into it up. to her ankle—that it “was as large as a good-sized basin, wash basin.” Emma L. Young, who occupied the store in front of which plaintiff fell, was called as a witness by the plaintiff. She was not asked upon her direct examination anything about the hole or its size. Upon her cross-examination she testified that it was about six inches in circumference and an inch or an inch and a half deep. The trial court advised counsel for the defendant ■ that in asking the question he had made Mrs. Young his own witness.

Whether .the question be regarded from this viewpoint, or whether she be regarded as the witness of the plaintiff as to all of her testimony, the fact that she differed with plaintiff as to the size of the hole did not conclude the plaintiff upon that question. She was entitled to go to the jury up‘on the question of whether the hole was or was not of a sufficient size to charge the city with liability for its continuance. This being so, the only element of a prima facie case missing was notice, either actual or constructive, to the defendant of its existence a sufficient length of time before the accident to charge the defendant with liability for its maintenance. To establish this -the witness was asked how long before the accident she had noticed the hole, and answered that she could not say. The following questions were then asked, rulings made, and exceptions taken:

“Q. Was it a month? The Court: She says she don’t know. I will exclude the question as already answered. (Plaintiff excepts.) Q. Can’t you fix it