Horney

An appeal by defendants from a judgment entered on a verdict for the plaintiff in an action to recover damages for personal injuries. The appeal is presented on the judgment-roll and a bill of exceptions.

Defendants were common carriers operating automobile stages between the cities of Whittier and Long Beach. The plaintiff on the. night of the accident was a passenger for hire on one of the stages mentioned, and was being transported from the town of Bellflower to the city of Long Beach.

The complaint alleged that while the stage was passing along the route mentioned, and while plaintiff was in the exercise of due care, the defendants “so carelessly and negligently managed said stage or automobile bus that as a result of such negligence and carelessness said automobile bus was run off the road- into a ditch at the side of the main highway,” causing the physical injuries of which plaintiff complains, to her damage in the sum alleged. These allegations were denied by defendants who, as a special defense, alleged that the night of the accident “being dark and rainy the plaintiff, knowing the lights on the stage to be poor, was guilty of negligence proximately contributing to her…