(DOWNLOAD) "Alton M. Chambers v. City Kansas City" by Supreme Court of Missouri * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Alton M. Chambers v. City Kansas City
- Author : Supreme Court of Missouri
- Release Date : January 13, 1969
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 68 KB
Description
This is a suit for personal injuries allegedly caused by the negligence of the City of Kansas City in permitting the existence
of and failing to repair a hole in the street on Troost Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets. The injury occurred on May 9,
1960, somewhere around 8 a.m. Suit was filed on October 4, 1961. There is no explanation in the record to show why trial was
delayed until April 22, 1968. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiff in the sum of $49,450.00, judgment was entered thereon,
and defendant's after-trial motions were overruled. It then appealed. Plaintiff was employed as a truck driver for Consolidated Food Company; he had been so engaged for that employer and a predecessor
for approximately 18 years. It was his duty to drive to the different locations in and near Kansas City where deliveries of
groceries in wholesale quantities were to be made. He apparently drove different trucks at different times. He did not load
the trucks. On this day he was driving a 2-Ton Van Type Chevrolet truck with groceries loaded in different piles for separate
deliveries, and as he said, "loaded high and heavy" so as to be "top-heavy." Because of plaintiff's seniority he had some
choice of routes and trucks; he had driven this truck about 2 weeks previously and had reported that its brakes grabbed; he
testified that they had been repaired. On this morning, before he started from the warehouse in North Kansas City, he had
checked the tires and tested the brakes by driving at a speed of ten miles an hour and trying them out; he said that they
then worked perfectly. On the route from the warehouse to the place of this occurrence he made such stops as were made necessary
by traffic lights and had no difficulty. He turned right (south) into Troost from 12th Street, after stopping for a red light,
and proceeded at about 20 miles an hour. The street is not adequately described in the record, but there were two sets of
streetcar rails, apparently unused, and a full traffic lane on each side of the rails. Plaintiff drove with his right wheels
outside the westernmost rail and his left wheels between the southbound rails. There were no cars to his right; there was
traffic moving ahead of him, about 4 car lengths distant, and considerable traffic coming towards him (north) with most of
those cars "straddle the east car track." There was a traffic light at 13th Street, and in the course of traveling the block
he saw children on the northwest corner of that intersection (on his right). He testified: that he was watching the light,
the children, and the traffic coming toward him; that as he neared 13th Street he saw a hole in the pavement about 20 feet
in front of his truck; that he applied the brakes as soon as he could, but that they did not take effect until his right front
wheel had hit the hole. By photographs and testimony (the photos being taken by the Kansas City Police) the hole appears to
have been a rather long, irregular rut, 3 feet or more long, probably 3 inches deep and about 10-11 inches wide at its widest
places; plaintiff thought it was about 5 feet long. The west edge of the hole was most irregular, having the appearance of
worn, eroded or weathered asphalt from the photographs. Plaintiff testified that he had not driven on that part of Troost
within the past 6 months.
 "Alton M. Chambers v. City Kansas City" by Supreme Court of Missouri * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}