[Download] "Low v. Ford Hopkins Company" by Supreme Court Of Iowa. * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Low v. Ford Hopkins Company
- Author : Supreme Court Of Iowa.
- Release Date : January 09, 1941
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 59 KB
Description
Decedent, 58 years old, the wife of plaintiff-administrator, was a resident of Mt. Vernon, Iowa. On December 8, 1938, she entered defendant's drugstore and tearoom in Cedar Rapids for the purpose, as plaintiff claims, of inspecting and purchasing certain merchandise. While in the store, she fell down a stairway leading to the basement, where merchandise was stored but not displayed for sale purposes, and where lavatories were situated. As a result of the fall, Mrs. Low received injuries from which she died in a few hours. Plaintiff claims the stairway was maintained in a negligent manner, so that its existence was not readily observable, and constituted a hazard to customers. There was a jury verdict for defendant from which plaintiff has appealed. The errors alleged pertain solely to the instructions given the jury. [1] I. Instruction 7 on contributory negligence deals with the no-eyewitness rule. It is a substantial copy of the instruction quoted and approved in Azeltine v. Lutterman, 218 Iowa 675, 682, 683, 254 N.W. 854. Appellant complains because the jury was permitted, under the instruction, to infer due care on decedent's part, only if they should find there was no obtainable direct evidence of the manner in which decedent conducted herself at the time, and just before, she was injured. Appellant says it was shown beyond dispute that there was no such obtainable direct evidence and that the jury should have been so instructed; that a nondisputed question should not be submitted to the jury.