DeWar v. Great Northern Railway Co.

435 P.2d 887, 150 Mont. 367, 1967 Mont. LEXIS 302
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 28, 1967
DocketNo. 11303
StatusPublished

This text of 435 P.2d 887 (DeWar v. Great Northern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DeWar v. Great Northern Railway Co., 435 P.2d 887, 150 Mont. 367, 1967 Mont. LEXIS 302 (Mo. 1967).

Opinion

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE JAMES T. HARRISON

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This appeal comes from the district court of Hill County. The record discloses that plaintiff was employed by defendant in the capacity of a telephone inspector and on December 16, 1963, plaintiff reported for work at 8:00 a. m. at Havre, Montana. At that time he was instructed by his supervisor to proceed to Malta, Montana, and install some dial telephones, and to use a 1957 Chevrolet, %-ton panel truck. Plaintiff testified that he left Havre about 10:25 a. m., that the wind was blowing and a ground blizzard was in progress, it was snowing, the roads were icy and visibility was poor. He further testified that when he got to Harlem, Montana, at about 11:40 a. m., he went to the Kennedy Bar in order to get out of the storm and except for one-half hour when he left for lunch, he remained in the bar until approximately 4:30 p. m. While plaintiff testified he did not leave Havre until about 10:25 a. m., a deputy sheriff of Blaine County testified that he saw plaintiff sitting in the Kennedy Bar shortly after 10:00 a. m. Plaintiff testified he spent several hours in the bar talking to the owner and a male friend of his and drank only Ginger Ale during the hours he was in the Kennedy Bar. However, a deputy sheriff testified that plaintiff and a female resident of Harlem were sitting close together at the bar, they were conversing he stated, and added, “I would say having a party.” This deputy returned to Kennedys three times that afternoon and plaintiff was there each time that he went in. On cross-examination, plaintiff testified that the bar owner, his friend and some girl were in the Kennedy Bar when he was brought there after the wreck, and in reply to the question, “Was this the same girl that was there in the afternoon?”, he answered, “Yes.”

Upon leaving the bar, at approximately 4:30 p. m., plaintiff drove two or two and one-half miles east of Harlem when he asserted the truck developed a shimmy and after going 200 to 300 feet on the right-hand shoulder of the road it pulled [370]*370very sharply to the left and the truck went into the ditch and he was injured.

Defendant’s evidence shows that at the time of the accident the weather was clear, the pavement was normal and dry with no ice or snow except on the shoulder of the road in the vicinity, at the time of the accident. It further showed that when plaintiff reached a point about two miles east of Harlem he began to veer to the right of the traveled portion of the highway with his right wheels in the snow. He proceeded along the shoulder for a distance of 340 feet at which point he then veered sharply left, across the highway in a skid for a distance of 72 feet, went off the highway on the left side, hit an irrigation ditch and flipped the truck over. The truck reversed direction and slid some distance, coming to rest at a point 179 feet from the point where it left the highway. Plaintiff never applied the brakes. The left-front tire apparently blew out when the truck struck the bank of the irrigation ditch on the left side of the road, the force of the blow dented the heavy rim of the truck wheel, the left shock absorber broke off at the bottom connection and was found hanging in front of the axle.

Following the accident, as before mentioned, plaintiff was taken to Harlem and went back to Kennedy’s Bar where he obtained two or three double shots of liquor and was later taken to the Indian Agency hospital about four or five miles east of Harlem where his scalp was sewed up and he was kept overnight. The next day he was taken to Havre and placed in a hospital there.

Plaintiff was given a ticket by the highway patrolman charging him with reckless driving and not being in possession of a valid driver’s license. Plaintiff went to Harlem several days after the accident and entered a plea of guilty and was fined $10 on the charge of lacking a driver’s license and $40 for reckless driving, which fines he paid. Before doing so he had been notified by his supervisor that he was out of service, this while he was still in the hospital, and he testified that he [371]*371knew that his job depended upon his defending himself against the reckless driving charge but he nevertheless went to Harlem, entered his plea and paid the fine. Plaintiff’s explanation for his actions was that if you obtained a lawyer to fight the case it would cost $50 to $60.

There was evidence produced in plaintiff’s ease that a gouge mark was present on the highway after the accident where the truck veered to the left, and that such gouge mark must have been caused by the broken shock absorber. Evidence produced by the defendant fails to indicate any gouge mark in the highway and defendant’s evidence with respect to the inspection of the truck after the accident showed that the steering mechanism, tie rod ends and connections were in good condition and they had not been bent or scraped.

Plaintiff also testified that he had made complaints with respect to this track to his supervisor, stating he had written complaints on a monthly form about four times. On cross-examination he stated that he had complained that the truck was hard to handle and hard to drive, and it did not have good tires. He did admit, however, that on March 18, 1963, he had purchased two new tires for the truck at the Northern Tire Company at Havre.

Upon the trial, the jury found for the defendant and judgment was entered in accordance with the jury verdict. Motion for new trial was made and denied. Upon this appeal the plaintiff seeks a reversal of the judgment and contends: (1) that the evidence preponderates in favor of the plaintiff employee; (2) that such evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict; (3) that the court erred in entering judgment on the verdict in favor of the defendant; and (4) in denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial. It is further contended (5) that the court erred in refusing to give certain of plaintiff’s proposed instructions, and (6) in the giving of certain instructions.

The first four contentions are general in nature, they all go to the sufficiency of the evidence. Admittedly some of [372]*372the evidence is conflicting but these conflicts were resolved by the jury, and viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prevailing party in onr opinion show substantial evidence to sustain the verdict. See our recent discussions in Campeau v. Lewis, 144 Mont. 543, 398 P.2d 960, and Wolfe v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co., 147 Mont. 29, 409 P.2d 528, as well as the prior cases cited in those opinions.

As to the fifth contention, plaintiff submitted his proposed Instruction 15 which reads:

“You are instructed that in undertaking to perform his regular work and in performing it, plaintiff, Edwin D. Dewar, as an employee of Great Northern Railway Company, had the right to assume that the railroad company had exercised reasonable care to provide him with a safe place to work, with safe working conditions and with safe equipment, and he also had the right to rely and act on that assumption.”

It was objected to on the ground it was repetitious of court’s Instructions 7 and 8, which were plaintiff’s offered Instructions 7 and 8, and the court refused 15 as repetitious. Court’s Instructions 7 and 8 are as follows:

“7.

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Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
318 U.S. 54 (Supreme Court, 1943)
Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad
352 U.S. 500 (Supreme Court, 1957)
Wolfe v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.
409 P.2d 528 (Montana Supreme Court, 1966)
Carter v. Miller
372 P.2d 421 (Montana Supreme Court, 1962)
Campeau v. Lewis
398 P.2d 960 (Montana Supreme Court, 1965)
State Highway Commission v. Manry
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Cashin v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.
28 P.2d 862 (Montana Supreme Court, 1934)

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Bluebook (online)
435 P.2d 887, 150 Mont. 367, 1967 Mont. LEXIS 302, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dewar-v-great-northern-railway-co-mont-1967.