Hamelin

An action for personal injuries was brought by Ethel Hamelin, respondent, against Edward T. Foulkes, H. C. Swanson and H. C. Swanson Company. A motion for nonsuit was granted as to the defendant Foulkes. The jury rendered a verdict in the sum, of $10,000 in favor of respondent and against the appellants H. C. Swanson and H. C. Swanson Company. This appeal is taken from a judgment entered upon the verdict.

Respondent sustained her injuries on the night of November 6, 1926. While alighting from an automobile she stepped into an open hole in the sidewalk occasioned by failure to maintain a proper covering upon the sidewalk hydrant box in front of appellant’s store in the Webster block in the city of Oakland. The defendant Foulkes was the lessor of the premises known as the Webster block. The building consisted of stores on the ground floor, offices above and basement below. Appellants were the lessees of a portion of the premises described in the lease as that certain store and basement thereof known as 361 and 363 Twelfth Street. Bach of the stores on the ground floor had its own hydrant box in front of the store. A water hydrant was housed in each hydrant box for use by the tenant…