Gray v. Southern Pacific Co.

145 P.2d 561, 23 Cal. 2d 632, 1944 Cal. LEXIS 183
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 1, 1944
DocketSac. 5620
StatusPublished
Cited by71 cases

This text of 145 P.2d 561 (Gray v. Southern Pacific Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gray v. Southern Pacific Co., 145 P.2d 561, 23 Cal. 2d 632, 1944 Cal. LEXIS 183 (Cal. 1944).

Opinions

CARTER, J.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment for defendant notwithstanding the verdict of a jury awarding her damages in the sum of $15,000 in an action under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, (45 U.S.C.A., secs. 51-59) based upon the alleged negligence of defendant in the operation of its train resulting in the death of Pierce L. Gray.

The main issue presented is whether or not the evidence is sufficient to support the implied finding of the jury that the deceased met his death in the course of his employment as the result of defendant’s negligence. Plaintiff’s theory is that the deceased was knocked from the top of a box car while in the performance of his duties as a brakeman by the negligent stopping of the train without warning.

Defendant operates a railroad through Colfax, California. On the evening of April 10, 1934, the time of the accident, defendant was operating in interstate commerce a freight train consisting of two engines, sixty-two cars, and a caboose, en route easterly from Roseville, California, through ,Colfax to Sparks, Nevada. One engine was at the head of .the train, and the other, a helper, four ears ahead of the ,caboose. The first thirty-five cars following the head locomotive were box ears. At Colfax the facilities for supplying the engines with water are located on the south side of the main track about 20 feet east of an express company shed which in turn is about 100 feet east of the depot. The train [635]*635arrived at Colfax at 9:45 at night; the weather was clear, '¡the night was dark and it was dry and warm. In stopping (to take on water, the lead engine was uncoupled and proceeded about 100 feet to the water column. The watering operations were completed, and at 10 p. m. the train pulled nut of Colfax. After it had proceeded 40 to 50 car lengths and attained a speed of about eight miles per hour, it was brought to a stop by the engineer in the lead engine by the ■application of air throughout the train. The train traveled about 250 feet or about five car lengths from the time the air brakes were applied before it stopped. Following the stop, deceased was found dead, his head and left forearm having been severed from his body. His body was found at about the fortieth car from the head of the train; his forearm was found leaning against the inside of the south rail of the tracks under the thirty-fifth car. There thus were five cars between his body and arm, or the same distance that the train traveled from the time of the application of the brakes to the stop. From the leaning position of the forearm it is reasonable to infer that no wheel of the train passed over the place where the arm was lying after it reached that position inasmuch as the flange on the wheel would have moved it. From these circumstances it may be deduced that ¡the deceased was at the thirty-fifth car from the head of the train at the time of the occurrence of the event that caused his death and it is probable that the deceased’s arm had been dragged along by the thirty-fifth car until the train ■came to a full stop. Moreover, other circumstances place him at that point and also indicate that he had boarded the train. There were four brakemen on the train, one of whom, the head brakeman, was the deceased. At and before the time ,of the accident it was the deceased’s duty to go upon and iwalk along and over moving freight cars. There is evidence that the custom or practice was for the head brakeman, under the circumstances presented, to inspect the first half, or the first thirty-four to thirty-five cars of the train from the ground as it rolled out of the station, giving special attention to whether the brakes were sticking on the wheels of any of the cars or whether any wheels were sliding. After the portion of the train subject to his inspection had rolled past, he would board the train, going on top of the cars to give or receive signals. It is wholly reasonable to conclude that ion the occasion in question the decedent was performing [636]*636¡those duties, had inspected his portion of the train and ¡boarded the thirty-fifth ear. That conclusion is consistent ¡with evidence which is susceptible of the interpretation that ¡the maximum speed of eight miles per hour for a train pulling out of a station is designed to enable trainmen who are making a rolling inspection from the ground to board the train after completion of that duty. Also, the evidence shows ¡that deceased was characterized as an excellent brakeman, ¡always willing to do his part and was active and competent, hence, likely to be performing his duties. The foregoing .circumstances are sufficient to place decedent on the thirty-fifth ear and sustain the inference that he fell from that car. With reference to the presence of deceased on the train, ¡without regard to the particular portion thereof, defendant ¡admits in its answer that at the time of the accident deceased was on the top of one of the freight cars of the train in the course of his employment and that he was run over by the train. Thus, if the defendant was negligent in stopping the train and that negligence was the proximate cause of his death, there is sufficient evidence to support the verdict. The foregoing circumstances clearly furnish a basis for concluding that the stopping of the train was the cause of the accident, particularly the location of the body and ¡the location and position of the forearm. They reasonably establish as a fact that the accident occurred while the train ¡was in the process of stopping.

Defendant contends that the only substantial evidence supports its version of the accident, that is, that deceased fell before the stop from the top of the second or fourth car behind the lead engine while crossing without a lantern from one car to another en route to the engine and hence no asserted negligence of defendant in making the stop .could have caused the accident. It points to evidence that when the train arrived in Colfax to take on water the deceased assisted in that operation by uncoupling and later coupling the lead engine; that he left a restaurant near the tracks when the train was starting and the engine crew testified that he boarded and moved to the top of the second or fourth car from the lead engine, having no lantern with him; that blood was found on the wheels of the second to fifth cars; that all the witnesses who qualifiedly testified on the subject established that the deceased’s duties as head brakeman did not include a rolling inspection of the train and [637]*637that he was supposed to board and ride the lead engine when it left Colfax.

The most that can be said of such evidence is that it created a conflict in the evidence or involved the credibility of the witnesses or the weight of the evidence, all matters which were resolved against defendant by the jury and with which we are not concerned on appeal, In addition to the circumstances heretofore related as supporting the jury’s verdict, there are other circumstances which mitigate against defendant’s version of the accident. Although it was a dark night the weather was warm and dry and as far as appears the cars were in good condition. Deceased was a brakeman of many years’ experience, was an alert, agile and able workman, and the tracks traversed were in good condition and decedent was familiar with them and the character of the train involved. All of these circumstances carry inferences which rebut the assumption that deceased fell when going from the top of one car to another without the intervention of any unusual occurrence.

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Bluebook (online)
145 P.2d 561, 23 Cal. 2d 632, 1944 Cal. LEXIS 183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gray-v-southern-pacific-co-cal-1944.