Dewey Anderson v. Merlin Welty and John

In this jury-tried case, defendants, who operate a sale barn in Nevada, Missouri, appeal from a judgment for $5,000 obtained
by plaintiff, a farmer and stockman then fifty-five years of age, for personal injuries sustained in the sale barn on June
6, 1953. We pass defendants' initial appellate complaint, i.e., that the trial court erred in overruling the motion for a
directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's evidence, because, by thereafter offering evidence, defendants waived and such
error. Snead v. Sentlinger, Mo., 327 S.W.2d 202, 203(1); Wilt v. Waterfield, Mo., 273 S.W.2d 290, 293-294(2); Stephens v.
Kansas City Gas Co., 354 Mo. 835, 191 S.W.2d 601, 607(12). But, the further complaint of error in overruling defendants' motion
for a directed verdict at the close of all of the evidence requires a factual review, in which we should and do give appropriate
recognition to the basic principle that, in determining whether a submissible case was made, we must consider the evidence
in the light most favorable to plaintiff-respondent, must accord to him the benefit of all supporting inferences fairly and
reasonably deducible from the evidence, and must disregard defendants' evidence except insofar as it may aid plaintiff's case.
Daniels v. Smith, Mo., 323 S.W.2d 705, 706(2); Denney v. Spot Martin, Inc., Mo. App., 328 S.W.2d 399, 401(1); Pieper v. Lewis,
Mo. App., 321 S.W.2d 4, 5(2); Songer v. Brittain, Mo. App., 272 S.W.2d 16, 20(7). Defendants' sale barn is about one-half block long, north and south. The office and cafe are in the south end, north of them
is the sale ring, and the cattle and hog pens are north of the ring. Two alleys, each some four and one-half to six feet in
width, run north from the sale ring with rows of cattle and hog pens opening off each alley; and, near the north end of the
barn there is an east-and-west alley not only connecting the two north-and-south alleys but also continuing in an easterly
direction to the loading dock. Cattle and hogs unloaded at the dock go into the east-and-west alley and, after being driven
in the west in that alley, are turned to the south into one of the two north-and-south alleys and then into a pen or pens
opening off that alley. When sales are conducted, the same north-and-south alleys are used and animals are driven into and
out of the sale ring through openings (at other times closed by sliding doors) at the south end of the alleys. Completely
encircling the pen area is an overhead walkway, about four to five feet in width and about ten feet above the ground, with
easy access to the walkway provided by three outside stairways.