Facts
- Thelma Reque was a passenger on a bus operated by Milwaukee & Suburban Transport Corporation in downtown Milwaukee.
- On March 16, 1957, the bus stopped to let passengers off.
- Reque alleged the bus stopped while positioned more than twelve inches from the curb.
- A Wisconsin statute required vehicles stopping or parking at a curb to be within twelve inches of the curb.
- Reque alleged that, when she stepped down from the bus to the street/curb area, she fell and suffered injuries.
- Her complaint relied on the alleged statutory violation as the basis for negligence, asserting the violation constituted negligence per se and caused her injuries.
- The bus company filed a general demurrer, asserting the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.
- The circuit court sustained the demurrer and granted Reque time to amend; she chose to appeal instead of amending.
Issues
- Does violating the statute requiring a vehicle to stop/park within twelve inches of the curb constitute negligence per se toward a passenger injured while getting off a bus stopped farther from the curb?
- Did the complaint allege enough facts (rather than a legal conclusion) to show a causal connection between the bus’s distance from the curb and Reque’s fall?
Decision
- The court held the statutory requirement to stop/park within twelve inches of the curb did not constitute negligence per se for this plaintiff’s injury because the statute’s function was to regulate roadway use and protect passing traffic, not to protect bus passengers from falling while getting off.
- The court held the complaint was legally insufficient because it alleged only the conclusion that the bus’s distance from the curb caused the fall, without factual allegations explaining how that condition produced the injury.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the order sustaining the demurrer, but modified it to allow Reque 20 days after remittitur to serve and file an amended complaint.
Legal Principles
- A statutory violation is treated as negligence per se only when the plaintiff is within the class of persons the statute was meant to protect and the harm is the kind the statute was meant to prevent.
- A “rule of the road” statute aimed at traffic flow and protection of vehicles using the roadway does not automatically supply a civil standard of care for other risks, such as a passenger’s fall while getting off a bus.
- On demurrer, a court accepts well-pleaded facts as true but does not accept legal conclusions; alleging that a condition “caused” an injury, without supporting facts describing the causal mechanism, is not enough.
- A negligence complaint must plead facts showing how the defendant’s conduct or condition led to the injury, not merely assert that injury followed a statutory violation.
Conclusion
Reque’s complaint, based solely on the bus being more than twelve inches from the curb, failed because the curb-distance statute was aimed at protecting roadway traffic rather than passengers getting off a bus, and because the pleading did not state factual details showing how the extra curb distance caused her fall; the demurrer was affirmed, with leave to amend after remittitur.