Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Landauer

54 N.W. 976, 36 Neb. 642, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 113
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 1893
DocketNo. 4885
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 54 N.W. 976 (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Landauer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. Landauer, 54 N.W. 976, 36 Neb. 642, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 113 (Neb. 1893).

Opinions

Post, J.

This is a petition in error by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and brings into this court for review a judgment recovered by the defendant in error for personal injuries alleged to have been received by her in ¿lighting from a train of the plaintiff in error at Cushman Park near Lincoln. It appears from the petition that the plaintiff below, Minnie Landauer, (now Minnie Parr), on the 5th day of July, 1889, purchased from the defendant below a first class ticket from Lincoln to Cushman park, and that upon the arrival of the train upon which she was a passenger at the last named station “ she started to alight from said train, and while so attempting to alight the defendant, negligently and carelessly and without giving plaintiff sufficient or reasonable- time in which to alight, [645]*645started its said train whereby plaintiff was thrown violently to the ground without any fault or negligence on her part,” by reason of which she received severe personal injuries, etc. The only allegation of negligence is that included within the above quotation from the petition. In its answer the defendant below denies all allegations of negligence on the part of its servants and alleges that whatever injuries were received by the plaintiff therein were in consequence of her own negligent and careless act in jumping from the train while in motion. Cushman park is a flag station on the defendant’s line of road three miles west of Lincoln’, where trains are accustomed to stop during the summer months, principally for the convenience of persons from the city visiting the park. The platform where passengers enter and alight from the cars is 215 feet in length and 7 feet wide, its elevation being a few inches above that of the rails of the track. The plaintiff below was at the time of the injury a young woman seventeen years of age, evidently possessed of the average intelligence and who was acquainted with the premises, having frequently visited the park, going and returning on the defendant’s trains. On the day in question there were an unusual number of passengers from Lincoln. The conductor, who was pass-, ing from the front to the rear of the train collecting tickets, had just passed the plaintiff, who was sitting three or four seats from the front door of the last or ladies’ car when the train reached the station. He called out the name of the station, but kept on collecting tickets, having given orders for the brakeman to stop and start the train while he was thus engaged. It is clearly shown, and not disputed, that the brakeman.got off at the rear end of the train and walked along the station platform to the rear of the smoking car which was the next in front of the ladies’ car, where he signaled the engineer to start the train. He - then-entered the smoker' from the rear, closing the door after him, at which time the train'was in motion. It is evident [646]*646that the train had started before the plaintiff attempted to alight, as she testifies on her direct examination that before she left the car she saw the braketnan through the glass door in front of her. Her testimony, so far as it relates to the cause of the injury, is as follows:

When I supposed the train had stopped I walked out to the front. I was in the last coach and I walked to the front of the coach and looked behind me and seen the conductor talking to some one, and the aisle seemed to be filled with men as I looked back behind me. I think it was about the fourth seat from the front, and when I looked behind me I seen he was standing there, so I just went right out.

Q. Which way did you go out?

A. The front of the coach.

Q. How far did you sit from the front door?

A. About three or four seats back. I can’t remember which, I think it was four. I went out, and just as I was, going, before I opened the door, I looked through the door, and I could see, through the glass door, the brakeman— I could tell it was the brakeman by his cap, and just as I got out I looked down and I seen the platform just as I got out of the door. I don’t remember looking toward the platform any more; I remember looking down to my feet where I was to step. I stepped one step, and as I stepped the other step — the wind was blowing real hard — and I raised my foot, and as I stepped, I did not step on the platform, and it threw me to the ground. I laid there until some one came and picked me up. I don’t remember seeing the platform after I took the second glance out; I seen the step when I stepped, and then I stepped right off in the air.

Q. When did you first discover that the train was moving; that is, if it was moving?

A. I did not know that the train was moving; I did not realize that the train was moving at all; I supposed it had stopped.

[647]*647Q. Had it stopped prior to this time?

A. They say that it had, but I could not state that it had. I have no knowledge of the train stopping whatever. So I was. picked up and the train went on, and I remember the train backing back, and I remember the conductor saying, after they had carried me to the stile, he said: “If I had known you was on the train and wanted to get off I would have been glad to have helped you off.” He seemed to be very sorry that I was hurt.

Q. Did the conductor get out of the car when the train stopped; I don’t mean when they backed up?

A. No, sir; he was standing right there talking to the men.
Q. Did you not see either the conductorlor the brakeman on the platform ?

A. No, sir; I expected one or the other to help me off; it was quite a step, but I remember him saying, “if he had known it he would have been glad to help me off.” There was a physician on the train that said my ankle was broken.

* * * * * * *

Q. About how many feet west of the platform was it that you fell ?

A. I could.not just exactly say, but I think it must have been between seven and eight feet, something like that.

Q. Mrs. Parr, as soon as you thought the train had stopped there at Cushman park, what did you do? Did you sit in your seat, or did you get up and start to get off?

A. I started to get off when I thought the train was stopped.
Q. You have been there before?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. On that train to that station before?
Q. What was your age at that time?
A. I was seventeen years old.

And on cross-examination she testifies:

[648]*648Q. Did the train stop at Cushman park? Can you say that it did?

A. I have no knowledge or anything.
Q. Did you not know at the time whether it was stopped or not?
A. No, I thought it was stopped, I naturally supposed it would stop.
Q. Can’t you tell well enough whether a train is running or standing still?

A. The wind was blowing real hard, and from what some of the rest say it was pulling out real slow, as it always does when a train starts; I suppose it was just pulling out.

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Bluebook (online)
54 N.W. 976, 36 Neb. 642, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-burlington-quincy-railroad-v-landauer-neb-1893.