Atwood v. Washington Water Power Co.

Citations

• 79 Wash. 427
• 140 P. 343
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1187

Syllabus

<p>Th,t at, — Evidence—Province of Court and Jury. Where the minds of reasonable men may differ, the legal sufficiency of the evidence is for the jury.</p> <p>Carriers — Injury to Passengers — Taring on Passengers — Sudden Jerks — Negligence—Question for Jury. Whether a street railway company was guilty of negligence in starting a car with a sudden jerk before an entering passenger could obtain a seat, is a question for the jury, where there was evidence by the plaintiff and her two children, who had often ridden on street cars, that they had never before experienced1 such a violent jerk, and that the plaintiff fell to the floor, and that her little boy also fell bacK into the arms of the conductor.</p> <p>Damages — Personal Injuries — Resulting Miscarriage — Evidence —Sufficiency. The evidence warrants the submission of the case to the jury, and the inference that plaintiff’s miscarriage on Thursday following her injury on Sunday, was caused or contributed to by the accident, where plaintiff was thrown to the floor of a street car by a sudden jerk in starting a ear as she was entering, a physician testified that the miscarriage was due to the injury, and plaintiff testified that, immediately after the accident, she suffered pain in the head and abdomen which continued the next day and became worse Tuesday, until on Wednesday she had slight hemorrhages, and vomiting and sinking spells, that she had four children aged from seven to fifteen years, and lived and assisted in work upon a farm; although she had had two other miscarriages years before, and some of the experts attributed the result to other causes ( Crow, C. J., and Chadwick, J., dissent).</p> <p>Carriers — Injuries to Passengers — Resulting Damages — Miscarriage. A carrier is liable for a miscarriage which was either caused by or contributed to by an injury flowing from its negligence.</p> <p>Appeal — Harmless Error — Instructions. Error cannot be assigned on the refusal to give instructions covered by the