[Download] "Ross v. Pennsylvania R. Co." by District of Columbia Court of Appeals. # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Ross v. Pennsylvania R. Co.
- Author : District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
- Release Date : January 24, 1947
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 54 KB
Description
CAYTON, Chief Judge. Plaintiff sued for personal injuries, claiming that while he was a passenger of defendant carrier he was struck on the head by a suitcase which had fallen from an overhead luggage rack. At the end of plaintiff's case the trial Judge directed a verdict against him and he appeals. The plaintiff's case (except for medical testimony not here material) consisted entirely on his own testimony. He testified that at Union Station in this city he boarded a coach car of a New York train a few minutes before it was scheduled to leave. He sat on the part of the seat next to the aisle, placing certain belongings on the seat between him and the window. He was reading a newspaper and paying no attention to the passengers crowding into the coach. Soon after he was seated and while the train was at a standstill he heard someone say: 'Oh, that poor man,' and then he was hit on the head by 'something heavy' and slumped in his seat unconscious for two or three minutes. There was no direct testimony as to how plaintiff was injured but he did venture to give his version of it. He said that after he regained consciousness he 'found what had happened' -- that a woman passenger had been trying to place a loaded suitcase on top of another large suitcase already on the rack and that her suitcase fell and struck him. He also testified that while he was being taken to the emergency room of the Union Station for treatment he asked an employee of defendant to get the name of the woman 'that was putting that suitcase on the rack.' The name was given to him as a Miss Scott. Miss Scott was present at the trial (having been summoned by defendant) but plaintiff did not call her as a witness.