Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway Co. v. Ackman

133 N.E. 164, 80 Ind. App. 169, 1921 Ind. App. LEXIS 347
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 9, 1921
DocketNo. 11,009
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 133 N.E. 164 (Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway Co. v. Ackman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern Railway Co. v. Ackman, 133 N.E. 164, 80 Ind. App. 169, 1921 Ind. App. LEXIS 347 (Ind. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

McMahan, J.

Complaint by appellee against appellant to recover damages to an automobile owned by appellee and alleged to have been damaged while, appellee was driving the same along the public highway in the city of Terre Haute where such highway is crossed by that part of appellant’s railroad known as “The Belt Railroad.”

The cause was tried upon the amended first paragraph of the complaint, hereinafter referred to as the complaint, wherein it is alleged that the damage was brought about by reason of appellant failing to give the statutory signals by sounding the whistle or ringing the bell, and by reason of the failure of appellant to give any sound or signal of the approach of the cars which caused the injury.

Appellant filed a motion asking that appellee be required to make the complaint more specific. This motion was overruled after which appellant filed a motion to “require the plaintiff to state facts necessary to sustain the conclusions alleged.” This motion was also overruled after which appellant filed a demurrer for .want of facts, which was also overruled. The issues being closed by a general denial, there was a trial by jury which resulted in a verdict in favor of appellee. The jury were required to, and did, in connection with the general verdict, answer certain interrogatories. Appellant filed a motion for judgment in its favor on, the answers to the interrogatories which was overruléd as was its motion for a new trial.

[172]*172The errors assigned and relied upon for reversal are that the court erred: (1) in overruling the motion for a new trial; (2) in overruling “appellant’s motion to require appellee to state facts to sustain the conclusions alleged;”' and (3) in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment on the answers to the interrogatories.

Appellee calls attention to the fact that appellant has failed to set out in its brief the motion, if any such was filed, to require appellee to “state facts to sustain the conclusions alleged.” An examination of the record discloses that appellant filed separate motions to require appellee to make its first and second paragraphs of the amended complaint more specific and also motions to require appellee to state the facts to sustain the conclusions alleged in each paragraph of the amended complaint. The only one of these four motions set out in appellant’s brief is the one to make the amended first paragraph of the complaint more specific.' Appellant, in stating its “Points and Authorities” under the heading “Fifth Error Relied Upon” says: “Said fifth assignment of error reads as follows: ‘the court erred in overruling appellant’s motion to require appellee to state facts to sustain conclusions alleged.’ * * * The motion in question is set out in the transcript at page 57.” This is followed by the statement that the motion if sustained would have required appellee to state facts necessary to sustain the conclusions alleged in the amended complaint filed October 27, 1917, alleging that appellee drove his automobile “in a careful and cautious manner.” The only motion set out in appellant’s brief is a motion found on page 52 of the record, which is a different motion than that found at page 57 of the record, the overruling of which appellant contends is reversible error. Under this condition of the record and briefs we hold that the [173]*173alleged error of the court in overruling such motion is not presented for our consideration.

The specifications in the motion for a new trial relied upon for reversal are that the verdict: (1) is not sustained by sufficient evidence; (2) is contrary to law; (3) that the court erred in giving and refusing to give certain instructions; (4) in refusing to submit certain interrogatories to the jury for it to answer; and (5) in sustaining objections to certain questions asked appellee on cross-examination.

Appellant contends that the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence and is contrary to law for the reason that appellee was guilty of contributory negligence, which, it is claimed, was the proximate cause of his alleged loss.

The facts as found by the jury in answer to interrogatories are in substance as follows:

Appellee, at the time of the accident and while it was dark, was driving his automobile on the west side of Seventh street in the city of Terre Haute. Appellant’s belt railroad crosses Seventh street at right angles and is straight for a distance of more than 1500 feet west of said street and is intersected on Seventh street by an interurban railroad track located near the center of the street, said tracks being on a grade with each other and slightly above the general surface of the street. Appellant’s train approached this street from the west. The whistle on the locomotive engine was sounded before the engine and cars crossed another railroad, 920 feet west of Seventh street. The bell on the engine was ringing when the cars and engine crossed this railroad crossing. The engine and cars afterwards came to a stop west of Seventh street with the lead car forty to sixty feet west of the street. A brakeman was riding on the lead car when it stopped. He gave the [174]*174engineer a signal with a lantern to cross the street. The engineer, before starting to cross the street, sounded the whistle on the locomotive. The bell on the engine was ringing from the time the cars started to cross the street until the first car reached the street. Appellee was within two blocks of the railroad when the cars started to cross the street. The brakeman continued to ride on the front end of the cars after they started to cross the street and as the cars approached the street he hollered to appellee when he was about five feet south of the railroad. , The east end of the east car was at this time west of the street. Appellee was driving his automobile about ten miles an hour for thirty or forty feet just before he reached the railroad crossing. His automobile was equipped with brakes which were in good condition, and with electric lights which were burning brightly. Seventh street was macadamized and appellee by the use of his brakes when going ten miles an hour, under the existing conditions could have stopped his automobile within six or eight feet. After having reached a place where he could have discovered the train by looking west, he could not in the exercise of due care have stopped his automobile by the use of the brakes before the collisions. He had driven an automobile about four years and was an experienced driver. The brakeman continued to call out warnings after the lead car reached Seventh street but appellee could not by the exercise of due care have stopped his automobile after the brakeman called out the warning, in time to have avoided the collision. Appellee had good eyesight and hearing, and had no physical disability which prevented him from operating the brakes promptly and effectively. During 1910 to 1914, he had made trips by automobile prior to the accident and in making such trips through Terre Haute had driven over Seventh street and across the railroad. [175]*175Appellant had two tracks intersecting Seventh street at this point and maintained a plank crossing. The south rail of the south track was twenty-five feet from the south line of the right of way. As appellee approached the crossing he was looking straight ahead and did not look to the west before the collision. The head car had not reached the interurban track before the collision. The west side of the street was the only part of Seventh street open for travel at this place.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
133 N.E. 164, 80 Ind. App. 169, 1921 Ind. App. LEXIS 347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-terre-haute-southeastern-railway-co-v-ackman-indctapp-1921.