Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad v. Spilker

33 N.E. 280, 134 Ind. 380
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 2, 1893
DocketNo. 15,401
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 33 N.E. 280 (Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad v. Spilker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago, St. Louis & Pittsburgh Railroad v. Spilker, 33 N.E. 280, 134 Ind. 380 (Ind. 1893).

Opinions

Howard, J.

This action was begun in the Hancock Circuit Court, where appellee, as plaintiff, filed her complaint against appellant in two paragraphs.

The first paragraph charged, in substance, that on the 18th day of October, 1888, within the limits of the city of Greenfield, at a point where appellant’s railroad crosses Stewart street, appellee’s husband was lawfully attempting to drive his team of horses and wagon across the track of said railroad, when appellant’s agents carelessly and negligently ran a locomotive engine and train of cars upon said team, demolishing the wagon and injuring appellee, who was seated in said wagon, by violently throwing her out against the wheel of the wagon and upon the ground, whereby she was bruised and injured in her limbs and back and internally, and that by reason thereof she has ever since been under the care of physicians and unable to help herself, and is permanently injured, maimed and crippled for life; that the train was running at a dangerous, reckless, negligent, and unusual rate of speed at the time it struck said wagon, at the rate of fifty miles an hour, and when approaching said crossing appellant’s agents, servants, and [384]*384employes in charge negligently failed to give any signal or alarm, by ringing the bell or blowing the whistle or otherwise, and never attempted to check or stop said train; that said injuries were caused by the careless and negligent acts of appellant as herein stated, and without negligence on her part or on that of her husband; that they were approaching said railroad track from the south, and that when they were within a short distance from said crossing, she and her said husband looked and listened, but that by reason of large and high piles of lumber, a saw-mill, and other obstructions on the south of and near and along the side of said track, they were unable to see, and that on account of the negligent failure of appellant to ring the bell or sound the whistle, they were unable to hear the approaching train by which she was injured. Wherefore she demanded judgment for $7,500 and other relief.

The second paragraph differs from the first principally by charging that appellant’s agents in control of the train had wilfully and purposely run said train upon said team, etc.

A general denial was filed to the complaint, and, on motion of appellant, the venue was changed to Wayne county.

A third paragraph of complaint was filed in the Wayne Circuit Court. A demurrer to this paragraph was overruled, as was also a motion to make the paragraph more specific.

An answer in general denial being filed, the cause was submitted to a jury, and a verdict for $3,000 was returned for appellee. The jury also returned answers to certain interrogatories.

The errors assigned in this court are the following:

1. Error in overruling appellant’s demurrer to the first and second paragraphs of the complaint.

[385]*3852. Error in overruling demurrer to the third paragraph of the complaint.

3. Error in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.

4. Error in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment in its favor on the special findings of the jury in answer to interrogatories, notwithstanding the general verdict.

5. Error in overruling appellant’s motion to set aside the service of the summons and the sheriff’s return on said summons.

6. Error in overruling the motion to strike out parts of the third paragraph of the complaint.

7. Error in overruling the motion to make the third paragraph of the complaint more definite and certain.

8. Error in overruling the motion to suppress certain parts of the depositions of James W. Lake, Sarah A. Lake, and Joseph A. Hamilton.

9. Error in overruling motion to suppress parts of depositions of Maria J. Wray, Stephen A. Ross, J. H. Payn, Samuel P. Gordon, and James Black.

Appellant discusses only a part of this list in the briefs filed. Several of the alleged errors also are improperly assigned as such; but as all such improperly assigned errors were given as reasons in the motion for a new trial, they are therefore properly in the record under the third assignment of error, the overruling of the motion for a new trial, under which assignment they will be considered, and not as independent assignments of error.

No ruling is shown in the record on the demurrer to the first and second paragraphs of the complaint, so that no question arises under the first assignment of error.

The second assignment of error is the overruling of the demurrer to the third paragraph of the complaint. [386]*386This paragraph charges, that within the limits of the city of Greenfield, at a point where appellant’s track crosses Stewart street, appellee’s husband was lawfully driving his team of horses and wagon across said track, when appellant, by her agents, carelessly and negligently ran her locomotive engine and train of cars upon said team, demolishing the wagon and injuring appellee, who was there lawfully seated in said wagon, by violently throwing her against the wheel of said wagon and upon the ground, whereby she was injured, etc.; that said train was running at a dangerous, reckless and unusual rate of speed, to wit, fifty miles an hour, at the time it struck said wagon and so injured her; that appellant’s agents, when approaching said Stewart street crossing with said train, never attempted to check or stop the same, but carelessly, recklessly and negligently ran it at said dangerous, reckless, and unusual rate of speed of fifty miles per hour over and across said street where a great many persons were constantly passing and crossing; that said injuries to appellee were not caused by any negligence on her part.

In Lafayette, etc., R. R. Co. v. Adams, 26 Ind. 76, where “the train was running along a street of a populous village, and the track there was commonly used by the inhabitants as a footway,” the court said: “The irresistible inference, therefore, is, considering all the evidence, that the speed was unusual, though not so much as twenty-five miles an hour, and that such a speed, in a place habitually used by foot-passengers, must be deemed inconsistent with any care for consequences to whoever happened to be in the way,” and the court held that there was gross negligence amounting to recklessness.

The paragraph demurred to in the case now before the court charges that appellant’s train was run across a [387]*387street in the city of Greenfield at a “dangerous, reckless, and unusual rate of speed of fifty miles per hour, over and across said street where a great many persons were constantly passing and crossing.”

It would seem that the particular facts were sufficiently stated, and that it was the province of the jury to say whether the speed of the train at a street crossing such as stated, or its unusual character, or other facts and circumstances stated, were acts of negligence or not.

In the case of Thompson v. New York, Central, etc., R. R. Co., 110 N. Y.

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Bluebook (online)
33 N.E. 280, 134 Ind. 380, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-st-louis-pittsburgh-railroad-v-spilker-ind-1893.