De Soto v. Pacific Electric Ry. Co.

In this action for damages, alleged to have been caused through the negligence of the defendant, plaintiffs had judgment. Defendant appeals, assigning as prejudicial errors committed by the trial judge the giving of certain instructions to the jury as to the law and the refusal to give certain offered instructions on the part of the defendant.

Marie De Soto suffered the injuries complained of, the second party plaintiff being her husband and being joined only because of his relationship to her. For convenience we will refer to Marie De Soto as though she were the sole plaintiff. The negligence complained of consisted in leaving unattended and without repair a ragged gutter or. depression on the outside of a railroad track. This track curved at the point mentioned and the- gutter or depression was for a number of yards along the outside of the outermost rail on said curve. Plaintiff was being conveyed in an automobile along the street upon which defendant’s tracks were so laid and said depression existed. The wheels of the automobile entered the gutter along the rail and in some manner were so held there that the automobile was overturned and plaintiff suffered injuries. That…