Arnold v. Alton Railroad Co.

154 S.W.2d 58, 348 Mo. 516, 1941 Mo. LEXIS 436
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 10, 1941
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 154 S.W.2d 58 (Arnold v. Alton 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
Arnold v. Alton Railroad Co., 154 S.W.2d 58, 348 Mo. 516, 1941 Mo. LEXIS 436 (Mo. 1941).

Opinion

*519 TIPTON, P. J.

In the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, the respondent recovered a judgment against the appellant in the sum of $15,000 for injury to his left eye. The respondent’s action is founded upon an alleged violation of the Federal Boiler Inspection Act, as amended, 45 U. S. C. A., Sections 22-24. From this judgment the appellant has duly appealed.

Respondent was a fireman on one of appellant’s local freight trains running west out of Slater, Missouri. On February 28, 1934, he was injured while engaged .in making a “drop switch” of an interstate freight car at Marshall, Missouri, by the glass in the clear vision window on his side of the locomotive cab shattering and particles thereof striking him in the eye and face. This is the second appeal in this case. Our opinion in the first appeal is reported in 343 Mo. 1049, 124 S. W. (2d) 1092, where a detailed statement of the facts may be found.

The appellant’s first assignment of error is, that its demurrer to the evidence should have been sustained because respondent’s evidence is contrary to the physical facts and is unbelievable. This •identical question was ruled contrary to appellant’s contenton on the first appeal of this case. As we have already decided this is a submissible case, we are bound by that decision on this appeal unless we made a mistake of fact or law. [Kick v. Franklin, 345 Mo. 752, 137 S. W. (2d) 512.]

The appellant contends that the facts in the second trial were different from the facts in the first trial. Appellant made tests with the engine in question, and enginemen of other railroads testified that in their opinion the movement of engines as described by plaintiff could not cause the glass to shatter with enough force so that a particle of glass could get in respondent’s eye. This additional evidence merely goes to controvert the respondent’s evidence, which was practically the same as in the first trial. Moreover, this additional evidence was only accumulation of evidence offered by appellant in the first trial. To sustain its contentions, the appellant relies upon the case of Monroe v. C. & A. Railroad Co., 297 Mo. 633, 249 S. W. 644. In that case the plaintiff’s testimony was absolutely contrary on the second trial to what it was on the first trial, and we held that since plaintiff’s testimony on one or'the other occasion was nbviously false, it had no probative value. That case is not in point because *520 the respondent’s testimony in both trials in case tinder review was practically the same. The jury in the case at bar evidently did not believe "appellant’s additional evidence; in fact, it did not believe appellant’s evidence that controverted respondent’s evidence. This it had a right to do.

The appellant’s next assignment of error as stated in its brief is, “The trial court erred in denying defendant the right to cross-examine plaintiff for the purpose of affecting, his credibility, reliableness, trustworthiness, and good faith, as to alleged injuries asserted in his petition on the first trial, that may have been the result of injuries in other' alleged accidents, which allegations of injuries were, on the second and third trials, by him stricken from his petition in an endeavor to avoid cross-examination as to such injuries, which involved his good faith and credibility. ’ ’

The original petition not" only contained an allegation of injury to respondent’s left eye, but also to his entire nervous system. The first trial was based upon the original petition. At the "beginning of the second trial and also in the third trial, the petition was amended so that the only allegation of injury was to respondent’s left eye. During the direct examination, the respondent's testimony was confined to the injuries to his left eye; therefore, that is the only injury involved in this trial, the other injuries, mentioned in the original petition being abandoned by the amendment.

The appellant contends that it had the right to show, by the cross-examination of the respondent, any fact which tested his credibility as a witness, and to bring out that the respondent was not in good faith in making allegations in' his original petition which were stricken from the petition on the second and third trials, and why he had done so,'thereby affecting his credibility and good faith.

The respondent had been involved in .several other accidents in which he had received personal injuries. On cross-examination, the trial court permitted, appellant to show that he had. these accidents, blit denied it the right to go into detail concerning them.

For instance, the respondent admitted on cross-examination that on December 9,1932, he had an automobile accident in which he turned over, but the court sustained the objection to the question that he received $151.40 from the Brotherhood organization, unless the appellant claimed some injury to the left eye in that accident. The appellant do.es not contend that respondent’s eye" was injured in that accident.

Again, the respondent admitted that on October 18, 1933, at Rush Hill, a fire door fell and struck him across the arm, but the court refused to let the appellant ask him if that accident affected his nervous system. 'The appellant frankly admitted that it could not show any injury to the eye in that accident.

Also, the respondent was asked if he did not .have an accident on *521 October 29, 1931, when' he claimed to have fallen off an engine tank. In ruling upon the objection, the court said: “I will sustain the objection. I will permit counsel to ask if, upon that date, he injured his left eye in any way, if there is-such a-claim. ” ■■

The only issue in this case in reference to- any injuries respondent sustained was to his left eye; injuries that he may have received in other accidents, not affecting his eye, were only -collaterally involved in this case.

The law is well settled in-this State that the admissibility of specific acts-tending to impeach or disparage the testimony of a witness is largely , within the discretion of the trial court. [Bertke v. Hoffman, 330 Mo. 584, 50 S. W. (2d) 107; Massman v. Muehlebach, 231 Mo. App. 72, 95 S. W. (2d) 808; State ex rel. State Highway Commission v. Hoffmann, 132 S. W. (2d) 27.]. In the discretion of the trial court, a witness may, for the-purpose of impeachment, be asked whether he has committed particular wrongful or immoral acts, subject to his right to refuse to answer incriminating questions, even though such facts or acts may be collateral to the principle controversy. However, the cross-examiner- is bound by the witness’ answer. [Muller v. St. Louis Hospital Assn., 5 Mo. App. 401, 73 Mo. 242; State ex rel. Horton v. Clark, 320 Mo. 1190, 9 S. W. (2d) 635; State v. Nasello, 325 Mo. 442, 30 S. W. (2d) 132.]

“There must.be a certain discretion left to the court in trying causes, to determine how far they will permit examinations of witnesses to proceed upon collateral matters not directly connected with the issues. We do not see that justice would be promoted by the interference of this court in a mere matter of discretion, because of a difference of opinion-with the court below as to the point at which an. examination should stop.” [Adriance v. Arnot, 31 Mo. 471, l. c. 472; Neal v. Caldwell, 326 Mo. 1146, 34 S. W. (2d) 104, l. c. 111.]

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Bluebook (online)
154 S.W.2d 58, 348 Mo. 516, 1941 Mo. LEXIS 436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arnold-v-alton-railroad-co-mo-1941.