Hess v. International Railway Company

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the fourth judicial department, entered April 9, 1915, which affirmed a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict. The complaint alleged the operation by the defendant in the city of Buffalo, N. Y., of a street railway for the transportation of passengers; that on the 14th day of April, 1912, plaintiff became a passenger on one of its cars, the step of which was so old, worn, splintered, loose, cracked, unsafe and unfit for the use of passengers in boarding and alighting from said car and so carelessly, negligently and improperly furnished that in alighting therefrom the plaintiff stepped on one of said steps and through the negligence of the defendant in maintaining it, slipped and fell therefrom with great force and violence and thereby sustained serious injuries which are • permanent and progressive and caused wholly through the negligence of the defendant and without contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff. The answer was a denial of the allegations of defendant’s negligence and of plaintiff’s injuries.