Vosburgh v. Meda

ADAMS, P. J. Appellant sued respondent for damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by her when she tripped and fell on the stairway of a building owned by defendant, the third story of which building was leased by appellant and occupied and used by her as a rooming house. Appellant contended that respondent had permitted the stairway, which was the only means of access to the upper floors of the building, to fall into disrepair and the metal nosings on the edges of the steps to become loose, and that her fall was due to her tripping over one of the loose metal strips at a point where said stairs made what she de[398]scribed as a “pie shaped turn.” Defendant denied the allegations of plaintiff’s complaint charging him with negligence, and as an affirmative defense alleged that appellant’s injuries, if any, were proximately contributed to by her own carelessness and negligence.

The case was tried by the court sitting without a jury and at the conclusion thereof the court found that while respondent had negligently maintained said stairway, appellant was, and had been for a long time prior to the accident, aware of the defective condition of said stairway, and that at the time she tripped and fell she was negligent in the manner in which she was descending said stairs and that such negligence on her part proximately contributed to cause her fall and her resulting injuries. Judgment was entered in favor of defendant. Appellant moved for a new trial which was denied.

On this appeal it is contended by appellant that the burden was upon defendant in the action to show that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence; that the finding of the trial court that she was guilty of such contributory negligence is not sustained by the evidence; and that, as there was no finding of any specific act by plaintiff upon which contributory negligence could be predicated, the court must have determined that she was guilty of such negligence as a matter of law, and that the evidence is insufficient to support such conclusion.

It is too well settled to require the citation of authorities that if findings of a trial court find substantial support in the evidence in a case, the judgment will not be disturbed on appeal. And where different conclusions may reasonably be drawn from the evidence by different minds, the trial court’s findings of fact are conclusive. (Meindersee v. Meyers, 188 Cal. 498, 502 [205 P. 1078]; Raggio v. Mallory, 10 Cal.2d 723, 725 [76 P.2d 660]; Bellon v. Silver Gate Theatres, Inc., 4 Cal.2d 1, 13 [47 P.2d 462]; Toms v. Mercantile Arcade Realty Corp., 24 Cal.App.2d 700, 701 [76 P.2d 153].)