Hern v. Southern Pacific Co.

81 P. 902, 29 Utah 127, 1905 Utah LEXIS 7
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 13, 1905
DocketNo. 1652
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 81 P. 902 (Hern v. Southern Pacific Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hern v. Southern Pacific Co., 81 P. 902, 29 Utah 127, 1905 Utah LEXIS 7 (Utah 1905).

Opinion

STRAUP, J.

1. This is an action for personal injury. The alleged acts of negligence are that the respondents constructed and permitted a certain platform, upon which large quantities of coal were placed, to be defective and overloaded, whereby it was made liable to fall, and in leaving an engine with steam to stand on a track leading to said platform unattended, and without being blocked, whereby the engine was self-propelled against the platform, casting it and the coal against and upon appellant, throwing him into and upon an outdoor and nearby fire, thereby wounding and burning him. A trial before the court and jury resulted in a verdict against plaintiff, and he appeals. The court granted a motion for a nonsuit as to respondent Ogden & Lucin Railroad Company, charged the jury they could render no verdict against defendant Beck-ham, because he was not served, and submitted the issues to the jury as to the respondent Southern Pacific Company; and when we herein speak of respondent the last-named company is meant.

Erom the evidence it is made to appear that the respondent was engaged at railroad construction work at a place called “Hog-up,” in Box Elder county, this State, and where a construction yard was maintained by it, composed of several tracks and spurs. In this yard a coal bunk or platform, variously estimated at from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet long, fourteen to sixteen feet wide, and four to six feet in height, was maintained by respondent, upon which was kept a large quantity of coal. There were from eight hundred to a thousand men working at and in the vicinity of Hog-up. There were no houses at the place, and the men [135]*135dwelt and boarded in cars provided for that purpose. Appellant bad been in tbe employ of respondent as a cook on one of its cars, and on wbat was called tbe “short-order train,” principally for trainmen. His employment commenced about tbe middle of October, and lasted until tbe evening of November 6, 1903, at wbicb time be quit. A water train and work and gravel trains were run and operated to and from Hog-up and about tbe yard, where also were maintained a sort of roundhouse and repair shops. Appellant says be was unable to find tbe timekeeper on tbe Lth until about 1 o’clock p. m., to obtain a statement of bis time for bis six days’ work, and was unable to get to tbe office car for bis time check until about four o’clock p. m. of tbe same day. This time check bad to be presented at Ogden for payment; but it was good as a pass, entitling appellant to be conveyed on respondent’s train. After supper on tbe said 7th appellant inquired about tbe trains, and when one would leave for Lakeside, tbe place where be intended going, but was unable to obtain tbe information, except, -as be was informed, that tbe trains usually started from tbe gravel pit, where they were loaded. He did not go down to tbe gravel pit, because it was coming dark, and because of a rough road, and be concluded to wait until the next day, wbicb was Sunday, tbe 8th day of November. After breakfast on Sunday, be says be “knocked around tbe forenoon,” endeavoring to find out about when a train would leave. He was again unable to obtain any information until about eleven o’clock a. m., when be was told that a water train was liable to come along at any time. He then got bis dinner, ate it hurriedly, and was on bis way from tbe boarding car to tbe water tank, where be says be bad intended taking tbe train if one came along; and, as be was passing one end of tbe said platform, an engine, wbicb bad been standing on a track leading to it, and there left unattended and unblocked, was self-propelled against tbe platform, whereby it and tbe coal was cast against and upon him, throwing him into and upon tbe outdoor fire, thereby wounding, burning, and permanently injuring him. A number of workmen were standing and sitting around and about tbe .fire, one of whom was [136]*136also injured at tbe same time. There was a train dispatcher at Hog-up; but appellant did not go to his office to find out the time that trains left, or when one could be had. The engine, when started, was about eighteen feet from the platform, and, when it struck it, knocked it down. From the time appellant quit work, and until the accident, he obtained , his meals at the boarding car free of expense, and appellant said he was there made welcome. A great many people during the day passed the end of the said platform, especially at mealtimes, and did so on the day of the accident. Evidence was also given on behalf of appellant showing that an engine, with steam, left standing and unblocked, is apt to start up.

On the part of respondent it was shown: That the platform was supported by ties placed on end, and would hold all the coal that could be piled on it. As a general practice the engines took water at the tank during the noon hour, without bringing the train with them. Persons going to Lakeside usually took the train at the south end of the yards, where usually there was a trainmaster, and usually it could be found between there and the tank, and there was good cinder path leading from the boarding house to that place. That the time check was issued and delivered to the plaintiff at 3 o’clock p. m. of November 7 th.' That office hours were also kept in the evening between 9 and 10 o’clock, and that plaintiff could have obtained his statement of time and time check on the evening of November 6th, the day on which he quit work, had he desired to do so, and that he could have obtained them any time during the 7th. It was also shown by respondent that from six o’clock p. m. to midnight of November 6th four trains left Hog-up to Lakeside, from twelve o’clock midnight of November 6th to twelve o’clock midnight of November 7th eighteen trains left Hog-up to Lakeside, and on the morning of the 8th up to twelve o’clock noon six trains left Hog-up to Lakeside; that all these trains carried cabooses; and that plaintiff could have ridden and would have been carried on any one of these trains, had he desired to go from Hog-up to Lakeside. A number of witnesses on the part of respondent testified, also, that at the time of his injury appellant, with [137]*137others was seated around the fire, with his face towards it and his back towards the platform, and that he had been sitting there for more than twenty minutes. It was also shown that there was a pit about eight or nine feet from the platform, over which this engine was placed about nine o’clock a. m. on the day of the accident to be washed out, and it was there from that time until the injury, which was about noon; that, when the engine was first placed there, it was blocked, and the steam all let out, in order to wash it out; and after-wards the steam was raised to remove it, so that another engine might be placed over the pit.

2. Prom this evidence two contentions were made at the trial, and are here made: One, on the part of appellant, that he was about the premises of the respondent with rights of that of an intending passenger, or at least otherwise rightfully about the premises, either with respondent’s implied consent of by its license, and that it owed him the duty of ordinary care in the operating and handling of its engine and in the maintenance of its platform, and that this duty was not performed. On the other hand, it is and was contended on the part of the respondent that appellant was about the premises without right or lawful purpose, a mere loiterer, and therefore a trespasser, and that it owed him no duty of care other than not to wantonly or willfully injure him.

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Rainey v. Oregon Short Line R.
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
81 P. 902, 29 Utah 127, 1905 Utah LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hern-v-southern-pacific-co-utah-1905.