Koran v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.

Citations

• 85 Kan. 707
• 118 P. 875

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Negligence — Passenger—Transfer—Personal Injuries — Passing Cars. The defendant operates a double-track railway running east and west. West-bound cars run on the north track and east-bound cars run on the south track. Passengers are transferred to west-bound cars from another line operated by the defendant coming from the south. To make the transfer it is necessary to cross a portion of the street and to cross the south track of the double line. At a certain time of day persons make this transfer with a rush and in sufficient numbers to crowd the cars. To receive them the rear vestibules of west-bound cars are opened on the north side and the front vestibules are opened on the south side. At the time of day referred to the plaintiff, who had paid his fare and had been given a transfer entitling him to ride on a west-bound ear, made this transfer with a number of others. He crossed the street, crossed the south track, crossed the space intervening between the tracks, and mounted the step of the west-bound car while it was standing still. Other persons entered ahead of him on the same side of the car, the vestibule was crowded, and he had no room to get higher. He waited a brief period for the people to get settled and then tried to put his foot up another step, when he was struck by an east-bound car on the south track. Held: (1) The plaintiff was a passenger and entitled to the protection due a passenger. (2) It was the duty of the defendant to afford persons in the situation of the plaintiff time and opportunity to reach a place of safety within or on the car before running cars by them on the south track. (3) The facts stated are sufficient to warrant an inference of negligence in the operation of the east-bound car without proof of its distance from the plaintiff when he crossed the south track, or its rate of speed, or the distance it traveled before it struck him.</p>