City of Galveston v. Barbour

Citations

• 62 Tex. 172
• 3 Tex. L. R. 261
• 1884 Tex. LEXIS 200

Syllabus

<p>1. Liability of municipal corporation for injuries caused by defective. sidewalks.—In the absence of a statute declaring the liability of a municipal corporation for injuries caused by defective sidewalks, such liability exists.</p> <p>2. Measure of damages.— In a suit brought by parents against a municipal corporation for damages caused by defective sidewalks in the city, whereby the son of plaintiffs sustained injuries from which he died, the mental suffering of the parents does not form an element in estimating damages.</p> <p>3. Same.—In such a case the true measure of damages would be a sum equal to the pecuniary benefit which might reasonably have been expected to result to the parents from the services of the child, had he not been injured, taking into consideration the fact that he was a minor, if there was no basis for exemplary damages. In addition thereto the parents may recover the costs of medical and other like expenses necessarily incurred.</p> <p>4. Evidence — Bes gestae.—The day after an injury was sustained by a minor in his foot, from which he died, the father (who sued a municipal corporation for damages) examined a projecting bolt in the curbing of a sidewalk, in consequence of what his son told him as to the cause of his injury, and. found drops of blood on it; the father stated this in evidence, and also that the boy was with witness when he examined, the bolt, and went there to look at it in consequence of what had occurred between him and his son. Held, that the testimony was not a part of the res gestos, and was inadmissible, for it was but an indirect way of getting before the jury the declarations of the son.</p> <p>5. Same.— Immediately after the injury was sustained, the child, weeping from the pain, narrated to his mother the cause of his injury. Held, that the declaration of the child, made under such circumstances, was part of the res gestas and admissible.</p> <p>6. Municipal corpoeation — Notice — Damages.— To render a municipal