Retkowsky v. Baltimore Transit Co.

This is another case in which the plaintiff attempted to establish negligence on the part of a common carrier by an adjectival description of an alleged sudden start of one of the defendant’s streetcars. The trial judge granted a motion for a directed verdict in favor of the carrier after both sides had concluded their testimony, and the plaintiff has appealed.

The evidence must, of course, be viewed in the light most favorable to the appellant. On November 9, 1957, the plaintiff, Helen Retkowsky, a woman 66 years of age, in good health, boarded a streetcar carrying two shopping bags. She…