Cox v. Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad

56 P.2d 149, 56 Nev. 472, 1936 Nev. LEXIS 13
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 1936
Docket3126
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 56 P.2d 149 (Cox v. Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cox v. Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, 56 P.2d 149, 56 Nev. 472, 1936 Nev. LEXIS 13 (Neb. 1936).

Opinions

The evidence is insufficient to justify the decision that defendants' were negligent. Such decision is against law. The cases uniformly support the rule to the effect that the leaving of cars by a railroad company on its tracks in such a position as to obstruct the view of a traveler at a crossing is not negligence per se. Headnote to 47 A.L.R. 287. Nor does such leaving of cars constitute negligence even though the same be left there unnecessarily and for an unreasonable length of time. Adams v. Missouri, K. T.R. Co. (Kans.), 241 P. 1086; Missouri, K. T.R. Co. v. Perino (Okla.), 247 P. 41.

Moreover, there is no evidence to support the finding that the cars were so left upon the tracks unnecessarily or for an unreasonable length of time. From all that appears from the evidence it may have been necessary to have spotted and kept the cars where they were at the time in question so that they could be loaded or unloaded, or for other reasons. The burden of proving this unnecessity and unreasonableness was upon the plaintiff. All other circumstances being the same, the *Page 474 accident would have happened whether the cars were left there necessarily or unnecessarily or whether they had been left there for a reasonable or an unreasonable length of time. The cars upon the sidetracks were merely a condition, not the proximate cause, of plaintiff's injury. And there is nothing in the evidence to show what extra precautions the defendants could or should have taken to have avoided the accident.

Plaintiff's negligence was the sole proximate cause of his injury, or, if there was any negligence on the part of defendants, then the contributory negligence of plaintiff bars his recovery. Under the circumstances found by the court to have existed in this case, it was plaintiff's duty to stop so that he could listen before venturing across any of the tracks, inasmuch as his vision was obscured and his truck was making such a noise that he evidently could not hear the approaching train; it was also his duty to look in both directions from points from which an effective observation could be had; and on account of his obstructed view it was his duty to increase his vigilence, and to decrease instead of increasing his speed as he started across the tracks, so as to be able to stop, if necessary, when his view became unobstructed. Young v. Pacific Electric Railway Co. (Cal.), 283 P. 61; Griffin v. San Pedro, L.A. S.L.R.R. Co.,151 P. 282, L.R.A. 1916A, 842; Eddelmon v. S.P.R.R. Co. (Cal.App.),182 P. 811.

We submit that the conduct of the plaintiff in crossing the tracks without looking in both directions, from a point where he could get an effective view — driving onto the first and second tracks without even looking to the north — a distance of ten and one-half feet — then looking to the north continuously for a distance of more than thirty-four feet — more than four and one-half seconds, when only a glance assured him that there was no danger from that direction — never looking to the south at all until the train was upon him, when a glance in that direction would have disclosed the approaching train, was not the conduct of an ordinary prudent man who has any regard for his own safety or the safety *Page 475 of a train that might be wrecked by running into a huge truck filled with gravel. Wehe v. Atchison, T. S.F.R. Co. (Kans.),156 P. 742. The evidence is sufficient to justify the decision that defendants were negligent, and such decision is not against law. At the trial the plaintiff proved that: (1) the defendants left the freight cars upon tracks No. 1 and No. 2 unnecessarily and for an unreasonable length of time; (2) the defendants failed to take any extra precautions to warn travelers of the approaching train; (3) the defendants' train, which collided with the truck driven by the plaintiff, was traveling at excessive speed.

The pernicious effect of permitting a railroad company to leave cars near a highway unnecessarily is made clear by the facts in the case at bar. The plaintiff was deprived, almost entirely, by the presence of the cars on tracks No. 1 and No. 2, of the opportunity to see a train coming from the south toward the crossing. He listened intently and carefully, but if warning signals were given, he failed to hear them. The trainmen admit that no extra precautions were taken — that no more warnings were given than usual, and that the speed of the train was as usual. If, however, the cars had not been left there unnecessarily, the plaintiff, in the time which he would have had in which to see the train, would undoubtedly have been able to have observed the same and stopped the truck in time to have avoided the accident. Chicago, B. Q.R. Co. v. Roberts (Neb.), 91 N.W. 707; Galveston H. S.A. Ry. Co. v. Michalke, 38 S.W. 31; Reed v. Chicago, St. P. O. Ry. Co., 37 N.W. 149.

The authorities are uniform in holding that when the view of a railroad crossing is obstructed by the fault of the railroad company it is incumbent upon the company to take extra precautions for the safety of travelers compelled to use the crossing. Pennsylvania R. Co. v. Moffitt, 1 F.2d 276; 12 L.R.A. (n.s.) 1067 at p. *Page 476 1069 (note); Ham v. Maine Cent. R. Co., 116 A. 261; 22 R.C.L. 990.

It would have been an easy matter for the engineer of the train to have blown the whistle almost continuously for a distance of about half a mile. Only slight extra exertion on the part of the engineer, for about seventy-five seconds more than he actually consumed in performing the task, would have been necessary, and there would then have been about eighteen blasts of the whistle, instead of nine blasts, thereby doubling the amount of warning that was given.

Plaintiff was not negligent. Bearing in mind the frequency with which, before reaching the railroad tracks, the plaintiff had looked and listened for an approaching train, and that, when about twenty feet east of the tracks, he brought his truck to an almost complete stop, and, as far as the physical conditions would permit, looked and listened carefully, the plaintiff had fully complied with the requirements of the "Stop, Look and Listen Law," even of those few states which require stopping, as well as looking and listening, before reaching the first of the tracks. In order to satisfy the requirements of such a law, it is not necessary that the vehicle be brought to a complete stop. Aymond v. Western Union Telegraph Co. (La.), 91 So. 671. Even in Pennsylvania, where the requirement of stopping is more rigidly adhered to than in any other state, the driver of a vehicle is not required to stop, after having done so before reaching the first track and while proceeding across the tracks, unless the circumstances are such that one exercising the car of an ordinarily careful, prudent person would do so. Wingert v. Philadelphia Reading Ry. Co., 104 A. 859; Benner v. Philadelphia R. Ry. Co., 105 A. 283.

Viewing the situation as an ordinarily prudent person, without time or opportunity to figure the exact distances, it reasonably and correctly appeared to the plaintiff that there was no reasonable opportunity to stop after he commenced to cross the tracks. One is not required to stop in a position dangerous in itself. Chesapeake O. *Page 477 Ry. Co. v. Steele, 84 Fed. 93; note 37, L.R.A. (n.s.) 138.

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

Related

Johnson v. Mitchell Supply, Inc.
363 A.2d 657 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1976)
Driscoll v. Erreguible
482 P.2d 291 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1971)
Chiribel v. Southern Pacific Co.
383 P.2d 1 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1963)
Rocky Mountain Produce Trucking Co. v. Johnson
369 P.2d 198 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1962)
Whiffin v. Union Pacific Railroad
89 P.2d 540 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1939)
Hilton v. Hymers
65 P.2d 679 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 P.2d 149, 56 Nev. 472, 1936 Nev. LEXIS 13, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-v-los-angeles-salt-lake-railroad-nev-1936.