Mallard v. Ninth Ave. R. R. Co.

There was testimony on the part of the plaintiff to show that the deceased, a child between nine and ten years of age, was attempting to cross Greenwich street at the intersection of Spring street, in the evening between eight and half-past eight o’clock; that there was a crowd of persons on the cross-walk at the time who stood back to let the approaching car pass; that the plaintiff stopped about two feet from the car track, with her back to the approaching car, then fifty feet away, and called to companions on the sidewalk to follow her; that there was no obstruction to prevent the driver seeing the child, and that he came up at a rapid pace; one witness says a sharp gallop; one a trot; and that his horse passed the child, who then turned and attempted to cross the track, and was struck by the front platform of the car, run over by the front wheel and dragged a short distance by the hind wheel before the car was stopped.

This state of facts require the submission to the jury of the question whether the driver of the car exercised ordinary care under the circumstances. The distance from the track, two feet, at which the child stood when the car approached, may have been.

It is urged, however, that the same proof in the plaintiff’s case-showed that the deceased child was guilty of negligence, which contributed directly to the accident. She was bound to the exercise of some care, and of such care as might be reasonably expected from a child of her years. What an older person should have done in the way of looking before starting to cross the street, is not the standard by which her actions are to be judged. It is true that she is described as having stopped near the middle of the street, two feet from the railroad track, with her back to the approaching car, then fifty feet away, calling to her companions on the sidewalk to follow her, and that just as the horses had reached her, or had passed her, she turned to run across the street without looking before her, and was struck by the front platform of the car and run over by the front wheel. Had an adult done this, it is probable that he would not be permitted to recover damages for the injury that ensued, as his conduct might be deemed reckless in the extreme. It is possible that the deceased was negligent in so acting. If she were, and that negligence contributed to the accident, a non-suit was proper. H we assume that she was suijwis, it implies that she had sufficient mental and physical capacity to be chargeable with the exercise of some degree of care and prudence, and responsible for the consequences of some degree of negligence. An infant is not in law altogether exempted from the exercise of care and prudence, and the defendant has a right to insist that she should not have been the heedless instrument of her owu injury, and whenever it affirmatively appears that the injury was occasioned by the fault of the party injured, there can be no recovery. Wendell v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co., 91 N. Y., 420 ; Reynolds v. Same, 58 id., 248.

But in this case the question arises whether the driver of the car, notwithstanding the negligence of the child, could not have prevented the accident by the exercise of ordinary care. If he ■could, then he was the sole cause of the injury and the negligence of the child will not prevent a recovery. “ The plaintiff may recover notwithstanding his own negligence exposed him to the .risk of the injury, if the defendant after becoming aware of the

What degree of care was the driver bound to exercise with regard to this child if he saw or could have seen her where she stood, as described by the witnesses ? The authorities answer the question. It is said in Sheridan v. B. & N. R. R. Co., 36 N. Y., 39 , that a child is entitled to more attention and care from a railroad company than a person who is under no disability. It is entitled to more consideration when crossing a street to the end that the cars shall not run over it; and such speed in driving as would be reasonable care toward others, might well be carelessness and neglect towards a child. In O’Mara v. H. R. R. Co., 38 N. Y., 445 , “ The old, the lame, and the infirm, are entitled to the use of the streets, and more care must be exercised towards them by engineers than towards others who have better powers of motion. The young are entitled to the same rights and cannot be ' required to exercise as great foresight and vigilance as those of maturer years; more care toward them is required than toward - others. In the case of a child but two or three years of age, no knowledge or foresight could be expected. This an engineer is bound to know and if the child is within his view to act accordingly. In the case of a boy eleven and a half years of age, the jury were not bound to require the same tempernace and caution as in the case of an older person.”

In Thurber v. H., B. M. & F. R. R. Co., 60 N. Y, 326 , it was said: If the driver of the ear had been reasonably vigilant, or even exercised the very lowest degree of care, he would have seen the plaintiff and could by very slight effort have entirely arrested or checked the progress of the car and avoided the injury. His omission to perform this slight duty was culpable negligence, for which the defendant must respond, unless it appears from the whole case that the injury is not attributable to that cause. In Murphy v. Orr, 96 N. Y., 14 , “ whoever drives horses along the street of a city is bound to anticipate that passengers on foot may be at the crossings, and must take reasonable care not to injure them. It is negligence whenever he fails to look out for them, or when he sees and does not, so far as in his power, avoid them.” “ In this case the day was clear and bright; the street was unobstructed ; the horses quietly moving on a walk, completely under the control of the driver, who, from his elevated seat, could see all around in front and on both sides of him. The plaintiff, a child between three and four years of age, while on the cross-walk and passing over was knocked down by one of the horses.” The evi*

These rules, by which we are to judge the conduct of drivers of vehicles approaching children who are in the street exposed to the consequences of their own natural want of foresight, as well as to want of care on the part of others, require that, in a case like the one before us, the questions of contributory negligence on the part of the infant, and of want of ordinary care on the part of the driver, should be submitted to the jury. ■ The case is distinguishable from McKenna v. N. Y. C. R. R. Co., 9 Daly, 262 , where it was held not to be negligence in the engineer of a locomotive to proceed when he perceived a person lying motionless by the side of the track in such a position that if he made no incautious* movement he would have escaped injury. In this case the child was not lying motionless, and it was for the jury to say whether it was apparent that she might change her position at any moment so as to bring her into danger. There is also to be considered the fact that the speed of a horse car may be more easily controlled than that of a locomotive.

The judgment should be reversed and a new trial ordered, costs to abide event.

Larremore, Oh. J., and Bookstaver, J., concur.