Chicago & W. I. R. R. v. Doan

93 Ill. App. 247
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 14, 1901
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 93 Ill. App. 247 (Chicago & W. I. R. R. v. Doan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chicago & W. I. R. R. v. Doan, 93 Ill. App. 247 (Ill. Ct. App. 1901).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Windes

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellant’s counsel contend :

1st. That there can be no recovery against appellant for the negligence of the Monon company, for the reason, as they claim, the charges of negligence in the declaration against that company are by way of recital merely. This claim is clearly untenable. The declaration, as will be seen from the statement preceding this opinion, directly and positively alleges negligence of the Monon company in running its trains at a high and dangerous rate of speed, to wit, twenty-five miles per hour, without ringing a bell, sounding a whistle or giving any alarm or notice, and without a light on the forward end of the locomotive, as required by an ordinance of the city of Chicago, which is set out in full in the first count.

2d. Appellant claims that the verdict of not guilty as to the Eastern Illinois company conclusively establishes that there was no negligence as to that company and therefore relieves appellant from the charge of negligence in failing to provide a safe and suitable waiting place at the point in question. It is well settled that any one or more of a number of joint'tort feasors, though all are sued, mav be found guilty, and it does not follow that because one is found not guilty that such finding conclusively establishes the innocence of another. The verdict of not guilty may be clearly and manifestly against the evidence, and whether or not a verdict of guilty as to the other should follow, involves an examination of the evidence to determine whether or not it sustains the verdict.

3d. The further claim is made that as the evidence shows that all trains were required by law to stop at the place where the accident occurred, and because, as it is claimed, the evidence in the case shows conclusively that the public were not invited by appellant nor the Eastern Illinois company to come to the place in question and make use of the railway tracks there as a waiting place for trains, no negligence is shown. We think this claim, as a whole, is not supported by the evidence. The evidence does show that immediately south of the place of the accident appellant’s tracks are crossed on the same level by other railway tracks, and the law of this State requires that all trains at such a place should be brought to a full stop before reaching the crossing, and within 800 feet therefrom; but the evidence does not sustain the remaining portion of the claim; on the contrary, the clear preponderance of the proof is that for a long time prior to the accident, some of the witnesses putting it as long as six years, the Eastern Illinois.company had almost daily permitted people (at times as many as ten to fifteen persons, and on the night in question some of the witnesses say there was a crowd of people waiting) to take its suburban trains at the point in question; that its employes made no objection thereto, but even at times assisted persons to board such trains, and invariably collected fares from all who took its trains at this place. It is true it appears that the Eastern Illinois company provided no facilities at this place for the comfort safety or convenience of passengers, did not advertise the point as a stopping place for trains, and sold no tickets to or from this point, but we regard this evidence of little importance in view of the facts, as above stated, being so clearly established.

Appellant is the lessor of the Eastern Illinois company, and as such is liable for the negligence of the latter while using appellant’s railway tracks to the same extent as its lessee would be liable. Ry. Co. v. Rumbold, 40 Ill. 143; R. R. Co. v. Ellett, 132 Ill. 654-9, and cases cited.

It is only argued by appellant’s counsel in this regard, that the evidence was not sufficient to show negligence; in fact it is conceded—and they cite 4 Elliott on Eailroads, Sec. 1641, and Thompson on Carriers of Passengers, 269, which sustain the proposition—that if a railway company has established a stopping place for the reception and discharge of passengers, and has invited the public to come to that place .to take its trains, or to leave trains at this point, the duty of the company is to use reasonable care to provide a safe place for the passengers to take or leave the trains. That the trains of the Eastern Illinois company had for years stopped at this point is abundantly established, and stopped long enough to allow passengers to get on the train is álso shown; also that they were required by law to stop for .the crossing, but only for a time sufficient for the engineer to ascertain that the way was clear and that the train could safely resume its course. From this evidence and the other evidence as to the custom of permitting passengers to get on, assisting them in doing so, and collecting their fares, the jury was justified in finding that the company had established this point as a place for the receipt and discharge of passengers, and had invited the public to take and leave its trains there.

4th. The claim is made that appellee, knowing the danger of going on the tracks and waiting for the train, voluntarily took all risk of injury, was guilty of contributory negligence, and therefore could not recover. That contributory negligence is generally a question for the jury, is too well established to require the citation of authority.

As we have seen, the public were invited to take Eastern Illinois trains at this point, and that it was a regular stopping place for trains. It appears from evidence uncontradicted, that numerous persons, including appellee’s father, had for years before been in the habit daily of taking its trains at this place about the hour of the accident to appellee; that appellee herself had daily taken the same trains at this time for several months before; and it fails to appear that any previous accident had ever happened at this point. Many other persons, both men and women, including appellee’s father, were at the time waiting for the same train at about the same place and upon the railway tracks. Moreover, she had a right to presume that all trains would comply with the law by stopping for the railway crossing, which is immediately to the south, and necessarily would not be running at a dangerous rate of speed when they passed this point, and would give warning of their approach, as well as obey the city ordinance by having a brilliant and conspicuous light on the forward end of the locomotive engines, all of which the evidence tends to show was not the case with the Monon train, which came from the south, and passed her almost at the instant and just before she was struck by the Eastern Illinois train. These matters being taken into consideration, as well as all the other circumstances attending the accident, which are too numerous to set out in detail, we think the matter of appellee’s care was one for the jury, and it can not be said that their finding in this regard is manifestly against the evidence.

5th'. For appellant it is also argued that appellee’s going on the tracks was the proximate cause of the injury, and not the negligence of the Monon company. From what we have said, it follows that appellee was rightfully on the tracks and was in the exercise of ordinary care for her safety. The evidence shows that she, with others, was standing on track Mo. 1, which was the north-bound passenger track, waiting for the Eastern Illinois suburban train, which was coming from the north on track Mo.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

St. Louis S. F. Ry. Co. v. Richards
1909 OK 40 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1909)
Danziger v. Pittsfield Shoe Co.
107 Ill. App. 47 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1903)
Chicago Telephone Co. v. Hiller
106 Ill. App. 306 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1903)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 Ill. App. 247, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chicago-w-i-r-r-v-doan-illappct-1901.