Henry v. Hack

100 N.E. 116, 53 Ind. App. 47, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 285
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 18, 1912
DocketNo. 7,774
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 100 N.E. 116 (Henry v. Hack) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henry v. Hack, 100 N.E. 116, 53 Ind. App. 47, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 285 (Ind. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Hottel, J.

1. — Appellee obtained judgment in the court below for $3000 damages for the death of Henry G. Reasoner, caused by a collision at a highway'crossing over appellant’s interurban tracks, from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted. A motion was made by appellant in the court below for judgment on the answers of the jury to interrogatories notwithstanding the general verdict, which was overruled and exceptions properly saved. The ruling on this motion is properly assigned as error and presents the only question relied on for reversal. This question is presented by and determined from a consideration of such answers to interrogatories, the general verdict and the pleadings tendering the issues of fact, which, in this case, is a complaint in one paragraph and a general denial thereto. Indiana R. Co. v. Maurer (1903), 160 Ind. 25, 25 N. E. 156; Consolidated Stone Co. v. Summit (1899), 152 Ind. 297, [49]*49300, 53 N. E. 235; Southern R. Co. v. Utz (1913), 52 Ind. App. 270, 98 N. E. 375; Indianapolis Southern R. Co. v. Emmerson (1913), 52 Ind. App. 403, 98 N. E. 895,

2. Inasmuch as the only answer is a general denial the only pleading to be considered is the complaint, and appellee has in his favor the general verdict which is a finding that every material averment of such complaint was proven.

3. The presumption indulged in favor of this general verdict, so frequently announced by the Supreme Court and this court, will not permit its overthrow by such answers to interrogatories unless there exists a conflict between the two, irreconcilable upon any supposable state of facts provable under the issues. Ohio, etc., R. Co. v. Trowbridge (1890), 126 Ind. 391, 398, 26 N. E. 64; Shoner v. Pennsylvania Co. (1892), 130 Ind. 170, 181, 28 N. E. 616, 29 N. E. 775; Consolidated Stone Co. v. Summit, supra, 304; Southern R. Co. v. Utz, supra, 378. It is contended by appellant that such conflict exists in two essential respects, one affecting the question of appellant’s negligence and the other affecting the question of the contributory negligence of appellee’s decedent.

4. The averments of the complaint important in determining whether such conflict exists are in substance as follows: that at the crossing in question it was necessary for a traveler on said highway going north before crossing appellant’s track to pass over the tracks of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway Company and its switch, both lying on the south of appellant’s track; that on said day about the hour of 11 a. m., appellee’s intestate, was driving a wagon drawn by two horses, and when about to cross appellant’s track at said crossing, stopped to permit a car on appellant’s track going east to pass him, and also-waited for an east-bound train on the track of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway to pass; that immediately after said train of ears going east passed, intestate’s horses, [50]*50which he had driven in a prudent manner, became frightened and unmanageable and started across the tracks of appellant and while they were so unmanageable, ran intestate’s wagon upon said track; that at that time appellant was running a car in a westerly direction on said track at a high and dangerous rate of speed, fifteen miles per hour, approaching said crossing; that intestate and his horses and wagon were in plain view of the agents of appellant in charge of said car for a distance of over 200 feet, when intestate was about to approach the track of the appellant, and appellant’s servants saw, or, in the exercise of reasonable care, could have seen decedent and his horses and wagon and could have seen that intestate’s horses were frightened and unmanageable and about to enter upon the track of appellant, or that they were upon the track, or so close thereto, that the car could not pass without striking them, and that intestate could not extricate himself from said dangerous position, nor from his wagon, and that he could not remove his horses from said track in time to avoid a collision; that appellant’s motorman and servants in charge of said ear saw or could have seen, in the exercise of ordinary care, intestate’s peril in time to have avoided a collision, and stopped the car which they negligently and carelessly failed to do; that said car was equipped with air brakes and all modem appliances; that said servant of appellant did not have said ear under control, but carelessly and negligently ran it without having it under control; “that in failing to see or take due notice of what they could have seen in the exercise of ordinary care, or seeing the dangerous condition and peril of said intestate, and failing to get said car under control, and failing to check or stop the same, said appellant carelessly, negligently and recklessly and in total disregard of intestate’s peril, by its agents and servants aforesaid, ran its said car at a high and dangerous rate of speed against and upon this intestate and his horses and wagon; that at this time intestate was unable to get his horses and wagon from the track so as to avoid [51]*51a collision with said car which the motorman well knew, or could have known in the exercise of reasonable or ordinary care; that said car struck said intestate with great force and violence and caused his death immediately, all of which was due to the carelessness and negligence of said appellant and without any fault on the part of this intestate.”

The interrogatories answered by the jury set out in narrative form are in substance as follows: Appellee’s intestate, Henry G. Reasoner, was killed by a car on appellant’s traction line about 11 o’clock, August 8,1908, at a highway crossing about one-third mile west of New Palestine, Indiana. Appellant’s traction line at said crossing parallels the Cin-' cinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway Company’s track and runs forty-nine feet and six inches north of the side track. At said point appellant’s traction line and said railroad tracks all run about east and west and the highway on which appellee’s decedent, was killed, while traveling north thereon, at said point runs north and south. The decedent had lived about one-fourth mile north of said crossing for about seven years, had crossed it frequently, was acquainted with it and knew the location of said railroad tracks and traction line at said point. There was a large number of freight cars standing on said side track on each side of said highway extending from said highway east to a point about opposite the passenger station of said railroad. Decedent was driving two horses hitched to a wagon on which there was a hay-frame. Decedent had owned and used these horses for about seven years and had frequently driven them over said crossing and between said freight cars. At the time he was killed decedent was about thirty-two years of age, had good sight and hearing, and was then familiar with the location of said freight cars and acquainted with the running of cars on appellant’s traction line at said crossing. He was killed by a west-bound car which had stopped at New Palestine .to take on and discharge passengers, and said ear approached said crossing on schedule time running about [52]*5225 miles an hour. The motorman in charge of said car blew the whistle for said crossing. The ear weighed about 50 tons and was equipped with air and hand brakes which were in good order.

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Bluebook (online)
100 N.E. 116, 53 Ind. App. 47, 1912 Ind. App. LEXIS 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henry-v-hack-indctapp-1912.