Dickson v. Chattanooga Ry. & Light Co.

237 F. 352, 1916 U.S. App. LEXIS 1965
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedDecember 5, 1916
DocketNo. 2824
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 237 F. 352 (Dickson v. Chattanooga Ry. & Light Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dickson v. Chattanooga Ry. & Light Co., 237 F. 352, 1916 U.S. App. LEXIS 1965 (6th Cir. 1916).

Opinion

SESSIONS, District Judge.

On May 27, 1913, plaintiff went from his home in Arkansas to Chattanooga, Tenn., to attend a Confederate reunion. During the day he became intoxicated to such an extent that after 9 or 10 o’clock in the evening he was unconscious of his surroundings and actions. About 1 o’clock the next morning, while in a drunken stupor, he was lying across the railway track in a public street of Chattanooga when he was struck by one of defendant’s street cars and seriously injured. The street where the accident occurred was in a thickly populated part of the city, and was used by many people and [353]*353vehicles in the daytime, but upon that occasion, as was usually the case at that early hour in the morning, was practically deserted. No one saw plaintiff go upon the railway track, and there was no testimony tending to show when he lay down in the street. No eyewitness to the collision was found or called, except the motorman.

After denying defendant’s request for a directed verdict in its favor, the trial judge submitted the case to the jury upon the theory that the defendant could be held liable only in case its motorman was guilty of actionable negligence after he actually discovered plaintiff in a position of peril. The issue presented in the lower court and here is sharply defined by one of plaintiff’s requests to charge, which was refused, and by the general instructions given to the jury. The request which was refused is as follows:

“Plaintiff is entitled to recover if defendant, tlirougli its motorman, failed to exercise ordinary care and caution to discover plaintiff and his perilous position on the track, provided) the weight of the evidence shows that by the exercise of ordinary care and caution such motorman might have discovered plaintiff and his perilous position and thereby have avoided the accident.”

The following excerpt from the charge fairly represents and typifies the instructions which were given:

“The general public has a right in the streets of the city; it has a right to use the streets of the city as a public highway, but that does not carry with it the right to use the tracks as the plaintiff was using them. He was not using the track as a highway, but he was using it to lie down upon—which is an unauthorized use—and not using it as a highway. I charge you that under the undisputed facts, the plaintiff using that track in this way, there is no liability in this case unless the greater weight of the evidence, the greater weight of all the evidence, shows that the motorman of the defendant’s car failed to take due care to prevent the accident and injury to this plaintiff after he actually discovered the plaintiff on the track ahead of the car and could tell or had reason to suspect that it was a human being on the track in a position of danger. A street railway company is required by law to keep a lookout for people liable to use the highway for lawful purposes. It is not required by law to keep a lookout for people that are using the track as a bed, as this plaintiff practically was doing, and even if you should be of the opinion that the motorman could have seen the man further thau lie did, that would not carry any liability on the part of the defendant, as it owed him no duty to keep a lookout when he was using the track in this manner.”

[1] If plaintiff had been making a proper and rightful use of the street at the time of the accident, and his own contributory negligence had not continued until he was injured, .he would have been entitled to the instruction which he requested, and which was refused. It is well settled that one who is injured by a railroad train at a highway crossing, or by a street car in a street, may recover for such injury, notwithstanding his own initial or preceding contributory negligence in exposing himself to danger, provided he is using the street or highway at the time for a proper and legitimate purpose and his negligence has terminated, and provided, further, that the driver of the engine or street car, by the exercise of reasonable care and diligence, could have discovered his peril in time to avoid and prevent the accident. Robinson v. Louisville Ry. Co. (C. C. A. 6) 112 Fed. 484, 50 C. C. A. 357; Gilbert v. Erie R. Co. (C. C. A. 6) 97 Fed. 747, 38 C. C. A. 408; Toledo Traction Co. v. Cameron (C. C. A. 6) 137 Fed. 48-68, 69 C. C. A. 28; Tutt v. Illinois Cent. R. Co. (C. C. A. 6) 104 Fed. 741, 44 [354]*354C. C. A. 320; Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. Anderson (C. C. A. 6) 85 Fed. 413, 29 C. C. A. 235; Illinois Central R. Co. v. O’Neill (C. C. A. 5) 177 Fed. 328, 100 C. C. A. 658.

[2] On the other hand, it is equally well settled that one who malees such an improper, wrongful, or unlawful use of a street, or railroad track, as to become a trespasser thereon, and, in so doing, places himself in a position where he is likely to come into collision with a passing train or car, cannot recover for injuries s'o received, unless those in charge of the train or street car, by the exercise of reasonable care and diligence after the discovery of his peril, might have avoided the accident. Newport News & M. V. Co. v. Howe (C. C. A. 6) 52 Fed. 362, 3 C. C. A. 121; Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. Hellenthal (C. C. A. 6) 88 Fed. 116, 31 C. C. A. 414; Kansas City, Ft. S. & M. R. Co. v. Cook (C. C. A. 6) 66 Fed. 115, 13 C. C. A. 364, 28 L. R. A. 181; New York, N. H. & H. R. Co. v. Kelly (C. C. A. 2) 93 Fed. 745, 35 C. C. A. 571; Denver City Tramway Co. v. Cobb (C. C. A. 8) 164 Fed. 41-43, 90 C. C. A. 459; Little Rock Ry. & Electric Co. v. Billings (C. C. A. 8) 173 Fed. 903, 98 C. C. A. 467, 31 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1031, 19 Ann. Cas. 1173, and 187 Fed. 960, 110 C. C. A. 80; Chunn v. City & Suburban Railway of Washington, 207 U. S. 302-309, 28 Sup, Ct. 63, 52 L. Ed. 219; St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Summers (C. C. A. 8) 173 Fed. 358, 97 C. C. A. 328; Iowa Cent. Ry. Co. v. Walker (C. C. A. 8) 203 Fed. 685, 121 C. C. A. 579; Dunworth v. Grand Trunk Western Ry. Co. (C. C. A. 7) 127 Fed. 307, 62 C. C. A. 225.

[3] City streets are reserved and dedicated to the public for the primary purpose of travel thereon, either on foot or in vehicles, and, in the exercise and enjoyment of the rights so conferred, every person is entitled to the fullest measure of protection which the law affords. But, in this instance, plaintiff was not using the street for that or any other legitimate purpose. It goes without saying that to lie down upon the street in front of an approaching car or upon a track where cars are expected to and must run is an act of gross negligence. Upon reason and authority, it is undeniable that, if plaintiff, while sober and in the possession of all his faculties, had voluntarily lain down upon the street railroad track and had consciously remained in that position until he was struck by the car, or had gone to sleep after knowingly putting himself in the place of danger, his contributory negligence would have continued, and would have precluded recovery for the injuries which he sustained. Does his intoxication change the rule, and relieve him from the consequences of his own wrongful conduct ? “The condition produced by intoxication, being voluntary, does not relieve the person injured from the necessity of exercising ordinary care to avoid injury required under like circumstances of a sober man.” 29 Cyc. 534, and cases there cited.

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Bluebook (online)
237 F. 352, 1916 U.S. App. LEXIS 1965, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dickson-v-chattanooga-ry-light-co-ca6-1916.