Handel v. New York Rapid Transit Corp. – Case Brief Summary
Summary of Handel v. New York Rapid Transit Corp., 13 N.E.2d 468, 277 N.Y. 548 (1938).
Facts
Witness Ida Pfeiffer was awakened by screaming at 4 AM near an elevated train platform near her home. She saw what appeared to be a large bundle fall from the side door of a train as it came to a stop. Pfeiffer went outside and found Handel (P), a police officer who had completed his shift approximately 30 minutes earlier. Pfeiffer heard Handel say “Save me. Help me. Why did that conductor close the door on me?” A second witness was available to verify the statement.
Handel evidently had been dragged several blocks by the train and later died of severe injuries including a concussion, numerous broken bones, and a ruptured bladder. In a wrongful death suit against New York Rapid Transit (D) the court refused to admit Handel’s statements. The court dismissed the case at the close of evidence and the plaintiff appealed.
Issue
- What is hearsay?
Holding and Rule (Taylor)
- Hearsay is an out of court statement used to prove the truth of the matter asserted.
The court held that Pfeiffer’s testimony regarding the decedent’s statement was not admissible evidence because it was a past recollection recorded of an event in the past and therefore hearsay.
Dissent (Close)
Handel’s statement was spontaneous and in the form of a question, not an answer to a question. The evidence shows that the statement was made within a sufficiently brief period of time after the accident, and should be presumed to preclude fabrication. Given the brief time between the accident and the statement to the witness, a man in such a state of shock and in so much pain could not manufacture a false statement to implicate the railroad company.
See Helicopteros Nacionales de Colombia v. Hall for a law school civil procedure case brief involving issues of personal jurisdiction in the context of a wrongful death suit.