Central Indiana Railway Co. v. Davis

132 N.E. 611, 78 Ind. App. 341, 1921 Ind. App. LEXIS 223
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided October 27, 1921·No. No. 10,933·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

Batman, J.

— Appellee recovered judgment against appellant on the second paragraph of her complaint, which was drawn under the Employers’ Liability Act of 1911. This paragraph, after alleging that appellant is a corporation, engaged in business as a common carrier, and employing therein more than five men, and that appellee’s decedent, on March 27, 1917, was in its employ as a brakeman on one of its freight trains, contains the following averments, among others:

“That on said date the decedent was by said defendant [343] ordered and directed to go to and upon a certain freight car then and there forming a part of said train on which decedent was employed as aforesaid, and that decedent conformed to said orders and direction and was at the time of his injury and death as hereinafter set out and described at the place and engaged in the duty thus directed. That while thus employed the defendant carelessly and negligently made a running switch by then and there negligently cutting said car loose from said engine after said car had attained a high rate of speed, and defendant negligently kicked said car with its engine upon and over the main track and upon and over a switch into a sidetrack by it maintained at said station, and negligently and carelessly failed to leave sufficient room for decedent to carry out defendant’s orders and direction as aforesaid. That the decedent in conformity to such orders and directions, was between said main track and sidetrack and between the cars thereon when said car was so negligently switched and kicked, and was by reason of said negligence caught between said cars' and bruised, crushed and killed. * * * That the defendant, prior to said injury to said decedent as aforesaid, on the 10th day of August, 1915, and more than thirty days prior to said injury, gave notice in writing in substantial form to the Industrial Board of Indiana and to its employees that said company rejected the Indiana Workmen’s Compensation Act. That a copy of said notice is filed herewith, made a part hereof, and marked ‘Exhibit A.’ ”

Appellant filed a motion to require appellee to make this paragraph of her complaint more specific, and also a demurrer thereto, each of which was overruled. It then filed an answer thereto in two paragraphs, the first being a general denial, and the second alleging that the decedent, at the time he received his fatal injuries, was engaged in switching cars loaded with.interstate ship[344] ments of freight, and therefore it was not subject to the laws of Indiana, with respect to any liability arising from the decedent’s said injuries. To this affirmative paragraph of answer appellee filed a reply in general denial. The cause was submitted to a jury for trial, resulting in a verdict in favor of appellee, with answers to certain interrogatories submitted by the court. Appellant filed a motion for judgment in its favor on the facts found by said answers, notwithstanding the general verdict, which was overruled, and judgment was thereupon rendered in favor of appellee. This appeal followed.

1. Appellant contends that the court erred in overruling its motion to require appellee to make her second paragraph of complaint more specific. It has been held that the overruling of such a motion is so largely a matter of discretion with the trial court that, to render its action in that regard reversible error on appeal, it is necessary that the mover show that he was in some way injured by the denial. Leimgruber v. Leimgruber (1909), 172 Ind. 370, 86 N. E. 73, 88 N. E. 593. There is no such showing in this case, and hence appellant’s contention is not well taken. Cleveland, etc., R. Co. v. Wolf, Admr. (1920), 189 Ind. 585, 128 N. E. 38, 128 N. E. 695.

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Central Indiana Railway Co. v. Davis, 132 N.E. 611, 78 Ind. App. 341, 1921 Ind. App. LEXIS 223 (Ind. Ct. App. 1921).

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