Butcher v. Hyde
New York City Court
Appeal from judgment in favor of plaintiff, entered upon a verdict for $500, and from order denying motion for a new trial on the minutes. Action to recover damages for an injury sustained by the plaintiff while descending the balcony stairs in defendant’s theatre after a matinee performance. It was claimed by the plaintiff that the injury was .caused by reason of her heel catching in the rubber covering of the sixth step, which had become loosened.
1Opinion of the Court
Clement, Ch. J.
It was the duty of the defendants to exercise reasonable care over the stairs which were in use at their theatre. They were bound to exercise more care than the owner of a tenement house in the control of stairs in common use by tenants, and more care even than the officers of an elevated railroad over the stairs in use at their stations. It was the duty of defendants to be vigilant to see that the stairs of the theatre, which were crowded every week day, should be in such a condition that a theatre-goer, though a lady seventy-two years of age, could with safety descend the…
Also in this document: Concurrence.
2Cited by1 opinion
- Havlin v. KrulishCity of New York Municipal Court · 1898