Armstrong v. Mobile Ohio Railroad Co.

55 S.W.2d 460, 331 Mo. 1224, 1932 Mo. LEXIS 529
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 31, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 55 S.W.2d 460 (Armstrong v. Mobile Ohio Railroad Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Armstrong v. Mobile Ohio Railroad Co., 55 S.W.2d 460, 331 Mo. 1224, 1932 Mo. LEXIS 529 (Mo. 1932).

Opinion

*1231 ATWOOD, J.

This is an action under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act to recover damages on account of'the death of respondent’s husband, William N. Armstrong, which occurred while he was employed by appellant as an engine supply man in its yard at Murphys-boro, Illinois. He had just supplied ice to the cab of the defendant’s standing engine number 480 when he was struck by a grab iron on the side of the tender of defendant’s passing engine number 455 and rolled and crushed to death between the tender of that engine and the tender of the standing engine.

The case was tried on plaintiff’s amended petition in which she alleged negligence on the part of appellant as.follows:

“T. That the defendant, its officers and agents, did negligently and carelessly permit the engine that struck plaintiff’s deceased husband as aforesaid to be operated upon a track that was not intended to be thus used, and said engine was permitted to come in close proximity to the place where plaintiff’s husband was working all of which was in violation of the general custom or rules of the defendant.
“2. That the. defendant, its said agents and servants, knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care on their part would have known, that plaintiff’s deceased husband was performing duties at or near the aforesaid track, and the defendant, its officers and servants, in the exercise of ordinary care, should have warned plaintiff’s deceased husband of their unusual and extraordinary use of the track aforesaid before attempting to thus use said track as-aforesaid.
“3. That the defendant, its said officers and servants, saw, or by the exercise of ordinary care on their part could have seen, plaintiff’s deceased husband in or approaching a position of peril of being struck by said engine in time,, by the • exercise of ordinary care on their part, to have stopped said engine or slackened the speed thereof or given warning of its movement and approach in proximity to plaintiff’s deceased husband, but negligently and carelessly failed so to do.
*1232 '"'“4. That the defendant, its officers and servants, knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care on their part would have known, that the space, between its tracks was inadequate and insufficient, and by reason thereof engines and trains could not be operated on the aforesaid track while men were working at or near the same, with reasonable safety to those so engaged, and notwithstanding the fact that plaintiff’s deceased husband was engaged in his duties in connection with an engine on the track next parallel thereto, the defendant did cause ánd permit an engine to be moved along the track aforesaid and to thus strike, injure and kill plaintiff’s deceased husband while he was in the performance of his duties as aforesaid.
"5. That the defendant, its officers and servants, did negligently fail' to give warning to plaintiff’s deceased husband of their intention of'coming upon the said track into close and dangerous proximity to the place where he was woi’king, although it was usual and customary to give such warning under said circumstances.
16." The defendant, its said officers and servants, negligently moved said engine in said yards without a sufficient or adequate crew, in that defendant should have had at least one man riding at the north end of said engine and another on the fireman’s side of the cab, in addition to the men composing said crew at said time.”

In its answer appellant set up a general denial, a plea that Armstrong fully knew and appreciated the danger from the approaching locomotive and assumed the risk, and a further plea that his death was due to contributory negligence, in that he knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known of the approaching engine.

The reply was a general denial.

On submission of the case defendant’s negligence was predicated of facts and circumstances required to be found by Instruction 1, given at the request of plaintiff, which instruction is as follows:

<¿The court instructs the jury that if you find and believe from the evidence that on the 9th day of June, 1927, William N. Armstrong was in the employ of the defendant, and while thus employed was preparing engine No. 480, and that said engine was then and there assigned for the use and purposes mentioned in evidence, and that while thus engaged he was injured and killed when collided with by engine No. 455 mentioned in evidence; and if you further find that at the time thereof said engine No. 455 was then and there being operated by a hostler and not by a switching crew, and that the same “was being operated at the time of collision upon the track known as the cinder car track mentioned in evidence; and if you further find that it was unusual and extraordinary for said cinder car track to be thus used by an engine of the type of engine No. 455 and by a crew other than a switching crew; and if you further find that at *1233 ancl prior to tbe time of collision aforesaid it was the defendant’s custom to warn employees working in and around said cinder car track of the intention of coming in upon the same; and if you further find that at and prior to the time of collision the said William N. Armstrong was standing at or near said cinder car track and in such position that he was in peril of being struck by said engine No. 455 in the event it should be moved in and upon said cinder ear track, and that the hostler and hostler’s helper in charge of said engine No. 455 saw, or by the exercise of ordinary care on their part could have seen, the said William N. Armstrong in the aforesaid position of imminent peril, if you do so find, in time thereafter by the exercise of ordinary care to have stopped said engine, or given a warning of its movement and approach, and that by so doing they could thus and thereby have avoided striking and injuring said William N. Armstrong, and that the employees of the defendant in charge of said engine No. 455 did fail to stop said engine, and did fail to give a warning of its approach, and that said failure to thus warn said William N. Armstrong, if you do so find, was in violation of the custom of the defendant as aforesaid, if you do so find, and that in thus failing to so warn the said William N. Armstrong, and in failing to stop said engine, the employees of the defendant in charge of said engine No. 455 were then and there guilty of negligence, and that the said William N. Armstrong, while in the exercise of ordinary care for his own safety, if you do so find, was injured as a direct and proximate result of the aforesaid negligence on the part of said employees (if you find that the aforesaid employees were guilty of negligence in failing to stop said engine, and in failing to warn under the circumstances aforesaid, if you do so find), then your verdict will be in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant herein, provided you find that the plaintiff prior to the time of the death of said William N. Armstrong was the lawful wife of the said William N. Armstrong, and is now the lawful widow, and that the said William N.

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Bluebook (online)
55 S.W.2d 460, 331 Mo. 1224, 1932 Mo. LEXIS 529, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/armstrong-v-mobile-ohio-railroad-co-mo-1932.