Craig v. Great Northern Railway Co.

106 P. 155, 56 Wash. 640, 1910 Wash. LEXIS 862
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 12, 1910
DocketNo. 7976
StatusPublished

This text of 106 P. 155 (Craig v. Great Northern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Craig v. Great Northern Railway Co., 106 P. 155, 56 Wash. 640, 1910 Wash. LEXIS 862 (Wash. 1910).

Opinions

Mount, J.

The plaintiff was employed as a conductor on one of the cars of the defendant Washington Water Power Company, which company operates a street car system in the city of Spokane. While so employed and in charge of one of its cars, plaintiff was injured by a collision of said car with an engine of the railway company, at a crossing of the tracks [641]*641of the defendants, which he alleges was by reason of the negligence of both defendants. The cause proceeded to trial before the court and a jury, and at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, the court, upon separate motions of both the railway company and the power company, withdrew the cause from the jury and entered judgment separately, dismissing the case. No error is assigned upon the dismissal as to the railway company. The negligence alleged against the power company is, in substance, that it negligently furnished for the plaintiff and motorman an old, unfit, and defective car, said car being out of repair, the air brakes and other apparatus employed in controlling the same being old, defective, and insufficient, so that said car could not be controlled by means of said apparatus provided therefor; that the hand brakes and other apparatus for controlling the car were old, defective, and out of repair, so that the car would not respond to the application thereof, as was at the time well known to defendant power company; and that, by reason of such defective brakes and their refusal to work or to control the movements of the car, it passed upon the track of the railway company and came in collision with an engine running thereon at a high rate of speed, resulting in plaintiff’s injuries.

The dismissal by the court as to the power company was upon the ground that the injuries of which appellant complains were caused by the negligence of the motoiman in running at an excessive rate of speed, and in failing to properly apply the brakes, and not by the defective condition thereof, and being the negligence of a fellow servant, was not such as rendered the power company liable. From the order and judgment of the learned trial court thus disposing of the cause, plaintiff appeals, bringing all of the evidence here for our review upon the errors assigned.

The question presented is, Was there sufficient evidence of the power company’s negligence being a proximate cause of the injury to entitle plaintiff to have that question sub[642]*642mitted to the jury? From the evidence the following appears. The accident occurred at the crossing of the tracks of the railway company and the power company, by an engine of the railway company coming in collision with a car of the power company on which appellant was working as conductor, while the car was crossing the railway company’s track, the motorman having failed to stop the car before reaching the crossing, as required by the rules of the power company, to enable the conductor to get off the car, see that the railway track was clear and no trains approaching thereon, and then signal the motorman to go ahead; this rule being well known to both the appellant and motorman as a requirement of the power company as to all steam railway crossings.

The line upon which the accident occurred, and on which the car in charge of appellant and the motorman was running, is known as the Minnehaha line, and runs from the junction of Howard street and Riverside avenue, as a starting point, near the center of the city, several miles to the suburbs, making the round trip in one hour. The accident occurred January 27, 1907, about 8: 20 p. m. Appellant had been working for the power company as a conductor for some time previously, but not upon this line. He commenced on this line and on this car at 4: 38 p. m., that day, starting from Howard street and Riverside avenue. Three full round trips had been made, and it was upon the return of the fourth trip that the accident occurred. At this last time of approaching the railway crossing, it is claimed by appellant that the brakes on the car failed to work when the motorman attempted to stop, as the rules required, and for that reason alone, the car ran upon the crossing, when it was struck by a rapidly moving engine of the railway company, resulting in injuries to appellant and also injuries to the motorman from which he died a few hours later.

Substantially all of the evidence in the record relating to the condition of the brakes on the car and the cause of the [643]*643accident is that contained in the testimony of the appellant himself, the substance of which is contained in the following:

“Q. When a car is on a run where is it inspected? A. If you complain about it the inspector does. Q. What inspector, the one on duty where? A. At Howard and Riverside. . . . Q. Now had you on that run observed whether the gripman, or the motorman, was having any difficulty stopping at the crossings? A. Yes, I took notice after he reported it at Howard and Riverside, and I noticed on two or three occasions he ran past several passengers and had to back up for them. . . . Q. What, if any, warning signal did you get of the approach of the engine? A. I could feel the car kind of jumping as we was getting to the end of the line. . . . Q. Did you see the motorman, what was he doing at the time it was struck? A. He had the emergency on when I went on under the curtain. He put it on at five, and then at full speed, and then it hitched. . . . Q. What is the emergency? A. That is one way of stopping the car. Q. Is that the most extreme way of stopping the car ? A. They generally use that when nothing else will work. . . . Q. Did you see him apply the air? A. No, I did not see him apply the air. Just seen he had the emergency on. Q. Did it stop when he put the emergency on? A. No, sir, it was still running. . . .

“Q. It was your business, if the car was out of repair, to take it into the shop ? A. It was my business, if the car was out of repair, to report it to the inspector at Howard and Riverside, and he gave instructions and I obeyed them. Q. You weren’t entitled to take a car into the shops without orders from the inspector at Howard and Riverside? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who was inspector on this 27th of January, 1907? A. I don’t know. I know he said, £I am going to report this car to the inspector.’ Q. Who said that? A. Nickerson (motorman). I heard some one tell him to go ahead and I will have a car when you come back. Q. Who told him that? A. I don’t know who, whether it was Sweeney or August. . . . •Q. You don’t know whether it was Sweeney’s or Quaas’ voice? A. No. Q. You are not able to swear? A. I presume it was an inspector. Q. I am asking you what you are willing to swear to; are you willing to swear that it was either Quass or Sweeney or any other inspector at Howard and Riverside that gave that kind of an order? A. Yes, I believe I am. Q. Which one was it? A. Well, I think I [644]*644would swear it was Mr. Sweeney. Q. All right. Now, you saw Sweeney there then? A. I did not. Q. Didn’t you see him? A. I just judged him from the voice. Q. What time of day was it? A. 7:38. . . . Q. When was it you saw this maneuvering by the motorman? A. When I stepped under the curtain. And I saw him push it around and when he pulled it the fire came out. That is as far as I can remember. Q. What did he do when he threw the reverse lever? A. He put on the current. . He had the current off when I entered. .

“Q. At what speed was that car going when you were going through the car, for instance ? A. I presume he had it checked to half speed when I was going through the car. Q.

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Related

Grim v. Olympia Light & Power Co.
42 Wash. 119 (Washington Supreme Court, 1906)
Berg v. Seattle, Renton & Southern Railway Co.
87 P. 34 (Washington Supreme Court, 1906)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 P. 155, 56 Wash. 640, 1910 Wash. LEXIS 862, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/craig-v-great-northern-railway-co-wash-1910.