Neville v. City of Chicago, 201 Ill. App. 562 (1916)

Oct. 30, 1916 · Illinois Appellate Court · Gen. No. 22,358
201 Ill. App. 562
Mary Geraldine Neville, Appellee, v. City of Chicago, Appellant

Mary Geraldine Neville, Appellee, v. City of Chicago, Appellant.

Gen. No. 22,358.

(Not to he reported in full.)

Appeal from the Superior Court of Cook county; the Hon. William Feximore Cooper, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the March term, 1916.

‘Affirmed upon remittitur; otherwise reversed and remanded.

Opinion filed October 30, 1916.

Statement of the Case.

Action by .Mary Geraldine Neville, plaintiff, against the City of Chicago, defendant, in the Superior Court of Cook county, to recover for personal injuries sustained by reason of a defective plank sidewalk in defendant city, causing plaintiff to fall and a sliver of wood to penetrate and tear her sexual organ. From a judgment for plaintiff of $7,500, defendant appeals. This case has been tried five times, and has been heard twice in this court (154 Ill. App. 537; 191 Ill. App. 372). The verdict of the jury resulting in the judgment appealed from was for $15,000, which by remittitur was reduced to $7,500. The facts are fully stated in the opinion in 154 Ill. App. 557, with the exception of an opinion by the late Dr. John B. Murphy, negativing any causal connection between the accident and a later diseased condition of plaintiff’s ovaries, necessitating the performance of an operation known as ovariotomy.

Samuel A. Ettelson and Charles B. Francis, for appellant; Henry T. Chace, Jr., of counsel.

T. F. Laramie and A. W. Fulton, for appellee.

Mr. Presiding Justice McSurely

delivered the opinion of the court.

*563Abstract of the Decision.

1. Municipal corporations, § 1098 * —when evidence shows negligence in care of sidewalk. In an action to recover for personal injuries sustained by reason of a defective plank sidewalk in defendant city, causing plaintiff to fall and a wooden sliver from the sidewalk to penetrate and tear her sexual organ, evidence examined and a verdict finding defendant guilty of negligence held sustained by the evidence.

2. Damages, § 188*—when evidence fails to show causal connection between injury and, element of damage. In an action to recover for personal injuries sustained by reason of a defective plank sidewalk in defendant city, causing plaintiff to fall and a wooden sliver to penetrate and tear her sexual organ, where plaintiff claimed the injuries sustained caused a diseased condition of her ovaries and necessitated the performance of an operation known as ovariotomy, evidence examined and held not to show a causal connection between the injury sustained and the diseased conditions necessitating the operation.

3. Damages, § 114*—when excessive for injury to female sexual organ. In an action to recover for personal injuries sustained by reason of a defective plank sidewalk in defendant city, causing plaintiff to fall and a sliver of wood to penetrate and tear her sexual organ, causing considerable bleeding, where the evidence failed to show a causal connection between the injuries and a diseased condition of the ovaries, necessitating an operation, a verdict for plaintiff for $15,000, remitted in the trial court to $7,500, held excessive as remitted, and a further remittitur of $6,500 ordered.