Clark v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.

The plaintiff was injured in endeavoring to get upon one of the cars of the defendant’s railroad at Astor Place and Broadway. He was a passenger upon a Broadway car coming uptown, and alighted from this car at Broadway and Astor Place,, receiving a transfer ticket, which would entitle him to continue his route uptown upon the Madison Avenue Line, starting from the intersection of Astor Place and Broadway. The Madison avenue car, an open car, had come down Madison avenue, and upon arriving at Astor Place and Broadway it was necessary, before passen

I also think that it was error to admit the testimony as to the permanent character of the injury, and to allow the jury to include in their verdict the damages caused by such permanent injury. The complaint alleged that by reason of negligence of the defendant and its agents or servants the plaintiff received a fracture of the kneecap of the right leg, which injury disabled the plaintiff from attending to his business, and confined him to his house for the period of four months, to the plaintiff’s damage of $15,000. There is no allegation that the injury was continuing, that it was permanent, or that future damage would result. The allegation of damage is confined to the past effect of the injury. Upon the examination of Dr. Tuttle he was asked: “From your knowledge of the wound and the operation, will his [the plaintiff’s] injury be permanent or temporary?” That question was objected to as not within the pleading, and, after an intimation that there was doubt as to the competency of the testimony, the court said, “If you are willing to take the risk of it, I will allow Dr. Tuttle to swear;” to which counsel for the plaintiff replied, “We are.” The question was then changed so that the witness was asked, “What will be the probable result of this injury to the plaintiff ?” This was objected to as incompetent,, immaterial, irrelevant, and not pleaded, which objection was overruled, to which the defendant excepted. The answer was: “The loss of motion in the knee joint, with stiffness and inability to walk without a limp, or to use the knee in the normal way.” In submitting the case to the jury the learned trial judge, upon the question of damages, charged: “It is entirely within your province to award to Mr. Clark whatever sum, in your judgment, will be a fair and reasonable compensation to him for the pain and suffering which he endured during his immediate illness and for the future results to him of these occurrences;” and, commenting upon Dr. Tuttle’s testimony, the court said: “Dr. Tuttle has described to you as to how the patella or kneecap was fractured; how he treated it; that he made six or seven visits, I think; and that, in his opinion, the result of this injury is a stiffening of the right leg, due to stiffness at the knee joint, wdiich loss of motion will, in his opinion, be permanent.” At the end of the charge counsel for the defendant excepted to that part “of your honor’s charge referring to the awarding of damages for future results of this accident to the plaintiff/” This exception certainly was broad enough to cover the charge of the court that the jury was entitled to consider, in fixing the amount of damage, the fact that there was evidence to show that this injury would be permanent, Ox that the plaintiff would in the future suffer from the injury. There .vas no evidence in the case that a fracture of the patella would necessarily cause a permanent injury, or that the probable result of such a fracture would be a permanent injury to the knee. Dr. Tuttle had testified that in this particular case the knee would be permanently stiffened, but the condition was

The question as to the requirement of pleading special damages in actions of this character has been discussed in several late cases in the court of appeals, and we think the rule as now established requires that where it is sought to recover for permanent injuries in a case where the permanent condition is the natural, but not the necessary, result of an injury, the fact that the injury is permanent, and that damages will flow in the future from the result of the accident, must be pleaded.

In Gumb v. Railway Co., 114 N. Y. 411 , 21 N. E. 993 , it was held that:

“When a plaintiff alleges that his .person has been injured, and proves the allegation, the law implies damages, and he may recover such as necessarily and immediately flow from the injury (which are called ‘general damages’) under a general allegation that damages were sustained. But if he seeks to recover damages for consequences which do not necessarily and immediately flow from the injury (which are called ‘special damages’), he must allege the special damages which he seeks to recover.”

See, also, Uransky v. Railroad Co., 118 N. Y. 304 , 23 N. E. 451 , 16 Am. St. Rep. 759 .

In Geoghegan v. Railroad Co., 51 App. Div. 369 , 64 N. Y. Supp. 630 , the presiding justice said:

“The exception to the evidence in regard to the permanent injury to the eye seems to be of a more serious character. There was nothing in the complaint which called attention to an injury of that kind. It was clearly in the nature of special damages; and the rule has been recently reiterated in the court of appeals that, unless the injuries for which damages are sought to be recovered necessarily and immediately result from those described in the complaint, they must be specially alleged as special damages, or a recovery cannot be had for such injuries. * * * This rule of pleading gives a clear and unmistakable guide to the court in the admission of proof, and to the defendant in his preparation for trial. Injuries which inevitably result from those described in the complaint, and which the defendant must know from the allegations of the complaint had been suffered, may be recovered for under the general allegations. But where the injury is of a character which does not necessarily result from that described in the complaint, then the defendant has no reason to expect proof of any such unsuspected injury upon the trial.”

The plaintiff relies upon the case of Ehrgott v. Mayor, etc., 96 N. Y. 264 , 48 Am. Rep. 622 . In that case the allegations of the complaint were held sufficient to prove that the injury would be permanent, but the complaint alleged that the plaintiff suffered great bodily injury; that he became, and still continues to be, sick, sore, and disabled ; that he was obliged to spend large sums in attempting to cure himself, and was prevented for a long time from attending to his business, and that he was otherwise injured to his damage $25,000. And it was held that these allegations were sufficient to authorize proof of any bodily injury resulting from the accident; that if the defendant desired that they should be more definite; it could have moved to have them made more specific, or for a bill of particulars.

The judgment and order should, therefore, be reversed, and a new trial ordered, with costs to the appellant to abide the event.

VAN BRUNT, P. J., and McLAUGHLIN, J., concur.

The action was brought to recover tor personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff on the afternoon of July 1, 1898, as he was about to board the defendant’s car at Astor Place; the com, laint alleging that while he “had his hands upon the hand rails thereof the conductor * =•• * without any warning * * * violently threw the step along the side of the said car next to the plaintiff downward,-’ and “the edge of said step violently struck the plaintiff upon the kneecap, and fractured the same.” Further the complaint alleges: “That by reason of said negligence of the said defendant * * * plaintiff received the injury aforesaid of fracture of the kneecap of the right leg, which said injury disabled plaintiff from attending to his business and confined him to his house for the period of four months, to the plaintiff’s great damage of $15,000.” The plaintiff testified that he was the sole manager and proprietor of tourist enterprises, and his specialty was running large excursions to the Orient, and chartering steamers to Europe, his chief office being at 111 Broadway, with others at Cairo, Jerusalem, and so on; that his home is in New Rochelle, and on the afternoon in question he came uptown on a Broadway car, as was his custom, and got out to transfer at Astor Place; that he did not rush, but let one car go, and waited for another, which, when it arrived, had the bar up on the south side; that the car was about half full, and people were getting in on both sides; that a man beside him stepped in from the south side, and he supposed he stepped on the step, and he had never seen the bar up when the step was not down; that he supposed the step was down, and took hold of the two side bars, and did not look to see if the step was down; and, as he was just ready to get in, something hit him on the knee, and he fell in a dead faint. Solomon Heller testified that he got on the north side of the car, and was seated, and the car was stopped when the plaintiff got hold of the car right in front of him on the south side, and attempted to get on, when the conductor threw down the step,—the bar being already raised,—ana the plaintiff fell. It further appears from the evidence that the plaintiff, although he was able to get to his home after the accident, had broken his kneepan into two frag-

(after stating the facts). Four questions are presented upon this appeal: Whether there was evidence of the defendant’s negligence to support the jury’s finding; whether the evidence warranted the inference that the plaintiff was free from contributory negligence; whether there was error in the admission of evidence and in the charge of the court as to future results of the accident; and whether the verdict was grossly excessive.

Upon the first subject—the defendant’s negligence—the testimony is that when the car came to a stop in Astor Place the bar on the south side was up, and the step was not down, and that while the plaintiff was in the act of getting in the car the conductor, without warning, threw down the step, thus inflicting the injury. The defendant points out that the two acts of raising the bar and of putting down the step could not be done simultaneously, and that, if the step had been down first, and the bar then raised, an accident of a different kind might have happened. It is evident, however, that an accident in the latter way was less likely to occur, because the bar was more easily seen by the people approaching the car than was the step. Moreover, the evidence is that the bar was up when the car arrived, and, as people had thereafter entered, as testified by the plaintiff, particularly concerning a man who stood beside him, a considerable period elapsed before the step was thrown down; and the evidence shows that, although there were a number of people attempting to board the car on the south side, no warning whatever was given by the conductor in throwing down the step. It is contended by the defendant that, the fact that the bar was up was not submitted to the jury, and therefore, unless the evidence supports the theory that the accident occurred by the lowering of the step, the verdict cannot stand. Craig v. Powder Co., 55 App. Div. 49 , 67 N. Y. Supp. 74 , and Stevenson v. Railroad Co., 35 App. Div. 474 , 54 N. Y. Supp. 815 . If

The same testimony supports the inference that the plaintiff was free from contributory negligence. The plaintiff, as he approached the car, which was standing still, saw that the bar was up, and this was clearly' an invitation to get aboard on that side. He testifies further that he had never known the step to be up when the bar was, and that he supposed the step was down; that he saw the car half full of people, and people getting aboard, and that a man beside him stepped in the car, and he thought he stepped on the step; that he did not rush, but he wanted to get on that car, and he raised his hands, and took hold of the bars, and was about to step up, thinking the step was down, when he was struck. Under such circumstances we think it is a fair inference that the plaintiff acted as any reasonably prudent man would have acted, and that it cannot be said as matter of law that he was guilty of contributory negligence.

The third question relates to the question and the testimony as to probable results of the injury. It will be noticed that the first question put as to the duration—whether “permanent or temporary”— was not asked, the question objected to being, “What will be the probable result of this injury to the plaintiff?” In regard to the form of the question, the use of the word “probable,” instead of the words “reasonable certainty,” is not erroneous, and is upheld by authority. Thus, in Ney v. City of Troy, 50 Hun, 604 , mem., 3 N. Y. Supp. 679 , it was held that “the testimony of a medical expert as to the probable duration of plaintiff’s pain, who testifies that it is extremely doubtful whether plaintiff will ever recover from it,” is proper, and not within the rule in Strohm v. Railroad Co., 96 N. Y. 306 , excluding testimony when the apprehended consequences are contingent, speculative, or merely possible. And in Filer v. Railroad Co., 49 N. Y. 42 , a physician was allowed to testify as to the probability of a recurrence of an inflammation, and as to the probable effect of the general health of the injured person. See, also, Lincoln v. Railroad Co., 23 Wend. 425 . The further objection that such

The damages awarded ($7,000) were not, considering the position and business standing of the plaintiff and the probable results of such an injury, excessive.

We think, therefore, that the judgment should be affirmed, with costs.

HATCH, J., concurs.