Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad v. Johnson

3 Okla. 41
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 15, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 3 Okla. 41 (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad v. Johnson, 3 Okla. 41 (Okla. 1895).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

McAtee, J.:

On the 11th day of August, 1891, the defendant in error, as plaintiff, filed his complaint in the district court for Logan county to recover damages for pex-sonal injuries x-eceived by him at Guthrie, Oklahoma, while riding fx-onx Purcell, Ixxdian Territory, to Guthrie, ixx a box car ixi one of defendant’s freight trains.

Plaixxtiff claixned in his petitioix that he was a pas-sexxger, and that he was jerked axid thrown from the car ixx question by reason of the xxegligeixce of the defendant’s servants. The defendaxit plead by a gexx-ex-al dexxial, axxd by the allegatioxx that the plaintiff was xiot a passexiger but was a ti-espasser on the train, axid that the injuxúes were x-eceived ixi consequence of his owxx negligence ixx jumping froxn the traixx while it was ixx nxotioxx. To the answer of defexxdaxxt the plaintiff x-eplied, dexxying generally the allegations of the axxswer, and setting up a specific dexxial of the xxxatters set up ixx the axxswer as a defense. The case was tx-ied oxx the 26th and 27th days of October, 1893, axxd x-esulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for the sum of five thousaxxd dollax-s.

It was alleged by the plaintiff that oxx the 3d day of February, 1891, at about 8 o’clock p. M., the defend-axxt, ixi consideration of the sum of oxxe dollar, thexi and there paid to its agent, a brakeman on one of its freight traixxs, by the plaintiff, uxidertook and agx-eed, as a common carrier, to transport axxd coxxvey the plaixxtiff fx-om the town or village of PurcelL to the towxi 'or village of Guthrie, as a passenger, and the plaintiff, being so directed by one of the agents of the [45]*45defendant, thereupon entered one of its freight cars, to be conveyed from the town or village of Purcell to the town or village of Guthrie; that while being so conveyed in said freight car the plaintiff saw the conductor of the freight train to which the freight car was attached, and that said conductor was fully cognizant of the fact that plaintiff and other persons were being conveyed on said train, and also that plaintiff and “many other persons had upon various occasions been transported upon defendant’s freight train, by and with consent of, and by paying fare to, the conductor thereof.”

It was further alleged that the plaintiff, while he was such passenger, at the town_ or village of Guthrie, and without negligence or fault on his part, but while he was standing in or near the door of the said freight car preparatory to getting off the same, was, through the unskillfulness. carelessness, negligence and fault of defendant and its agents in causing the said train to greatly slacken its rate of speed and then to suddenly start forward at a much more rapid rate, without allowing him sufficient time to safely get off, thrown from said car and run over by a portion of said train. With their special verdict the jury returned into court special findings, as follows:

1. “Ques. When was the plaintiff injured? Ans. February 8, 1891.”
2. “Q. Was the train upon which plaintiff took passage from Purcell to Guthrie a freight train or a passenger train? A. Freight train.”
3. “ Q. Tf you answer question two, that the train was a freight train, did such freight train have a caboose car attached? A. Yes.”
4. “ Q. In what kind of a car did the plaintiff take passage? A. Boxcar.”
5. “ Q. If, in answer to the last question, you say the plaintiff took passage in a box car, please state if such [46]*46box car was provided by the company for the accommodation of passengers? A. No.”
6. “Q. Was the train on which the plaintiff took jiassage allowed, by the rules of the company, to carry passengers? A. No.”
7. “Q. Who was the conductor of the train? A. E. P. Anderson.”
8. “Q. If. in answer to the last question, you say that E. P. Anderson was the conductor of the train, you may state whether or not lie was in charg'e of the train? A. Yes.”
9. “Q. Did the conductor know that the plaintiff was on the train? A. We do not know.”
10. “Q. Who was the engineer in charge of the engine that was pulling the train? A. Spunaugle.”
11. “Q. Did the engineer know that the plaintiff was on the train before he was injured? A. No.”
12. “ Q. Who was the fireman of the engine that was pulling-the train? A. J. W. Cooper.”
13. “Q. Did the fireman know that the plaintiff was on the train until after he was injured? A. No.”
14. “Q. Did the plaintiff pay Harry Hill one dollar to ride from Purcell to Guthrie? A. Yes.”
15. “Q. Was Harry Hill abrakeman on the train on which the plaintiff took passage? A. Yes.”
16. “Q. Did Harry Hill, as such brakeman, have any authority to collect the dollar from plaintiff? A. No.”
17. “Q. What did Harry Hill do with the dollar so collected from the plaintiff? A. He ‘devied’ with Reynolds.”
18. ‘ ‘ Q. What was the regular passenger fare from Purcell to Guthrie? A. • One dollar and ninety-four cents.”
19. “Q. Did the plaintiff know that the train on which he took passage was not a passenger train? A. Yes.”
• 20. “Q. Did the plaintiff know that the car in [47]*47which he took passage was not provided by the company for carrying passengers? A. Yes.”
21. “Q. Did the plaintiff know that the train on which he took passage was not allowed to carry passengers? A. No.”
22. “Q. Did the plaintiff jump from the train while in rapid motion? A. No; he was thrown off.”
23. “Q. Did the plaintiff lean from the door of the box car in which he was riding, so that the stopping of the train threw him out and caused the injury? A. Yes.”
24. £-Q. Would the plaintiff have been injured had he remained back in the car until the train stopped? A. No.”
25. ££.Q. Would the plaintiff have been injured had he taken passage in the caboose attached to the train? A. We do not know.”
26. ££Q. Did the plaintiff have sufficient time at Oklahoma City to leave the box car and go back and get into the caboose attached to the train? A. We do not know. ”

At the time the jury returned their special findings into court, the defendant objected to the reception of the verdict of the jury until special interrogatories numbered 9, 25 and 26, should be answered by the jury, and that the jury be required to answer said findings with more definiteness and certainty, which objection and request were by the court overruled, and duly excepted to by the defendant at the time, and the court received the verdict, to which reception the defendant then and there excepted.

This action of the court constitutes the first assignment of error.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 Okla. 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atchison-topeka-santa-fe-railroad-v-johnson-okla-1895.