Yu v. New York

The plaintiff was injured while
alighting from a railroad coach at the defendant's
railroad station in New Haven on the evening of
April 2, 1955. Upon a trial to the court, the
defendant was found negligent in failing to
provide assistance to the plaintiff in alighting.
It has appealed from a judgment rendered for the
plaintiff. The facts found, with such corrections as are
warranted, are as follows: The plaintiff at the
time of the accident was thirty-seven years old
and about five feet two inches in height. A
disease of the right hip caused her to walk with
a pronounced limp, noticeable to anyone seeing her
walk. On April 2, 1955, after purchasing a coach
ticket, she boarded a train for New Haven at Grand
Central Station in New York City at about 6 p.m.
She was carrying a shopping bag containing food,
a square package containing eight or ten
long-playing phonograph records, and a parcel
containing a coat. She approached the train in the
view of several of the defendant's railroad
personnel, and one of them directed her to enter
a coach near the rear. The entrance to the coach
was level with the platform, so that she was not
required to climb or descend any steps. She
entered the coach to which she had been directed
and sat alone in a full seat, placing her packages
on the seat beside her. Thereafter, she proceeded
to the dining car, some eight cars forward, passing
several uniformed personnel on the way. The train
reached New Haven at 7:30 p.m., and it was then dark.
The plaintiff proceeded to alight, carrying her bundles
in her left arm and holding the handrail at the side
of the steps with her right hand. The distance from
[145 Conn. 453]