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96 N.Y. 14

Murphy v. . Orr

New York Court of Appeals

Decided April 29, 1884

New York Court of Appeals · decided 1884-04-29

<p>One driving horses along the streets of a city is bound to anticipate that passengers on foot may be at the crossings, and to take reasonable care not to injure them; if he fails to look out for them, or when he sees, does not, so far as in his power, avoid them, he is chargeable with negligence.</p> <p>Plaintiff, an infant about three years old, while crossing a street on a crosswalk was knocked down by one of the horses of a team owned by defendants and driven by their servant and was run over by the wagon ; the driver went on without stopping until stopped by an officer who went in pursuit of him. The day was clear, the streets unobstructed, the horses moving at a walk, and from the driver’s seat he could, had he looked, have seen the child in time to avoid him. In an action to recover damages for the injury, the driver testified that he did not see plaintiff and did not know of the accident until stopped by the officer. Held, that the facts justified the submission to the jury of the question as to the driver’s negligence.</p>

Relies on Barker v. . Savage

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1884-04-29

How this case has been cited

Cited by 28 later decisions — most recently January 1943 · most notably Birkett v. . Knickerbocker Ice Co. (1888), Moebus v. . Herrmann (1888)

28 state decisions

1801884189019001910192019301940decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Dahforth, J.

¶1 Whoever drives horses along the streets of a city is bound to anticipate that travelers on foot may be at the crossing, and must take reasonable care not to injure them. He is negligent, whenever he fails to look out for them, or when he sees, and does not so far as is in his power avoid them. There was evidence in this case fairly leading to either of these conclusions in regard to the driver’s conduct. The day was clear and bright, the street was unobstructed, the horses, quietly moving on a walk, were completely under his control, and from his elevated seat he could, as is conceded, •“ see a block away,” and “ all ar.ound, in front and on both sides.” Eevertheless, as the evidence tended to show, the plaintiff, then between three and four years of age, while on the crosswalk and passing over, was knocked down by one of the horses, run over by the fore wheel of the wagon, and seriously injured. He went upon this crosswalk from the south-east corner of *17 Twenty-fourth -street and First avenue, and the whole transaction was witnessed by a person standing on the opposite or south-west corner of the streets. He hastened to the assistance of the child, and at the same moment called aloud to the driver, but he paid no attention to the cry, and drove on, until stopped by an officer who had heard the call of the witness and followed the team up Twenty-fourth street. The evidence is sufficient to show that if the driver had looked he would have seen the child in season to have avoided him. His own testimony is that he neither saw the child, nor heard the call of the by-stander, nor knew of the accident until he was stopped by the officer. His conduct was sufficient to justify the conclusion of the jury that he failed in both particulars,, because he was unobservant, and the learned trial judge committed no error in charging them to say whether, under all the circumstances surrounding the transaction, he was negligent in not discovering the child in time to prevent the injury. (Barker v. Savage, 45 N. Y. 194.)

¶2 A witness named 0., called by the defendants, gave evidence to show that the child approached the wagon at its side and was run over by the hind wheel. If true, the testimony only raised a conflict upon which the jury might hesitate, but the force even of this was much impaired by the evidence of two witnesses, that shortly after the accident, and on the same day, 0. declared to them that, when it happened, he was in his shop, and neither saw the occurrence nor knew of it until he heard the cry “ that there was a child run over, and when he went to the door it was all over.” It was for the jury to weigh the evidence and determine the degree of credit to which each witness was entitled.

¶3 The learned counsel for the appellant attributes to the plaintiff no want of care, nor does he deny that the defendants are responsible for the conduct of the driver.

¶4 The judgment appealed from is, therefore, right and should be affirmed.

¶5 All concur.

¶6 Judgment affirmed.

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