Worden v. Central FireProof Building Co.

This is an action for damages on account of personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while being conveyed as a passenger in an elevator owned and operated by the defendant in its building in Los Angeles. The allegations of the complaint are, substantially, that while the plaintiff was descending in the elevator in defendant's building and after passing the seventh floor, the elevator, because of failure to have proper clamps and brakes thereon, fell to about the third floor, resulting in an injury to plaintiff's left knee and affecting the general condition of his health. There was a trial by *Page 96 a jury, a verdict and judgment being given for the plaintiff. The defendant appeals from the judgment and from an order denying its motion for a new trial.

The first point urged by the appellant is that the verdict is against law and is not supported by the evidence. The appellant insists that there was no negligence shown upon its part in the operation of the elevator and that, therefore, judgment should have been given against the respondent. Elevators do not usually fall or stop so suddenly as to cause injury to passengers, when operated with due care. The doctrine ofres ipsa loquitur applies to a passenger elevator. The plaintiff was only called upon to show that he was injured by the rapid descent and sudden stopping of the elevator, and that the elevator was under the control and management of the defendant. When he had made such proof he had made out a case presumptively showing negligence on the part of the defendant. The burden then devolved upon the defendant to show that it was not guilty of negligence for which it could be charged. (Treadwell v. Whittier, 80 Cal. 574, 582, [13 Am. St. Rep. 175, 5 L. R. A. 498, 22 P. 266]; Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Swift,213 Ill. 307, [72 N.E. 737].) The verdict implies a finding against appellant on this point. There was evidence of a substantial character to support it. The judgment cannot, therefore, be disturbed on this ground.

Appellant objects to an instruction on the same point to the effect that the plaintiff had sustained the burden of proof of negligence on the part of the defendant "by a showing that the plaintiff was injured while a passenger in the elevator of the defendant." As an abstract proposition this instruction is incomplete, in that it fails to include the further statement that it must also appear that the injury was caused by the operation of the elevator, its mode of motion, or from something connected therewith, in this case, as the evidence shows, by the sudden stop in its descent. This rule is fully explained in Wyatt v. Pacific etc. R. Co., 156 Cal. 170, [103 P. 892], and Steele v. Pacific etc. R. Co., 168 Cal. 375, [143 P. 718]. But no prejudice could have been caused to the defendant by this omission. Under the evidence there could be no doubt of the fact that if the plaintiff suffered the injury complained of at all while in the elevator, it was because of the manner of its operation, its rapid descent, *Page 97 and sudden stop. It was not claimed or suggested that his injury was from any independent cause.