Armstrong v. Yakima Hotel Co.

Citations

• 75 Wash. 477
• 135 P. 233
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1735

Syllabus

<p>Innkeepers — Injuries—“Guests”—Liability. The plaintiff, who went to a hotel for luncheon and visited the ladies toilet, is a guest and entitled to recover for injuries sustained through the negligence of the innkeeper in maintaining a defective stairway.</p> <p>Same — Dangerous Premises — Negligence — Contributory Negligence — Question for Jury. The negligence of an innkeeper in maintaining a defective stairway, and the contributory negligence of a guest in wearing a narrow skirt and high heeled shoes, is for the jury, where there was a conflict in the evidence as to whether the brass facing on the step was loose and protruded upward and outward and had caused several falls, to the knowledge of the innkeeper, and the dress and shoes were in evidence, and there was evidence that they were not out of the ordinary.</p> <p>Depositions — Method of Taking — Statutes. It is a substantial compliance with Rem. & Bal. Code, § 1242, requiring a notary taking a deposition to write the questions and answers, that he wrote the answers beneath the original interrogatories without rewriting the latter.</p> <p>Innkeepers — Dangerous Premises — Notice—Evidence—Admissibility. In an action by a guest against an innkeeper for personal injuries caused by a loose and protruding brass facing on a stairway, evidence that another woman fell on the same step forty-seven days previously is admissible to show constructive notice, where there was no change in the stairway up to the time of the accident.</p> <p>Trial — Misconduct of Counsel — Suggesting Indemnity. It is not misconduct of counsel in a personal injury ease, to ask jurors on their voir dire whether they were connected with any insurance or indemnity company or whether they carried accident or indemnity insurance, when unaccompanied by any improper suggestions.</p> <p>New Trial — Newlt Discovered Evidence — Impeaching Evidence. It is not an abuse of discretion to refuse a new trial for newly discovered evidence which was only imp