Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Wade

108 Ill. App. 423, 1903 Ill. App. LEXIS 149
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 18, 1903
StatusPublished

This text of 108 Ill. App. 423 (Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Wade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Wade, 108 Ill. App. 423, 1903 Ill. App. LEXIS 149 (Ill. Ct. App. 1903).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Windes

delivered the opinion of the court.

There is no direct claim that appellant was not negligent, but on the merits the only argument is that appellee assumed the risk, was guilty of contributory negligence which caused his injuries, and, if there was negligence, it was that of appellee’s fellow-servant. Upon the point of assumed risk the contention is, in substance, that the great preponderance of the evidence shows that at the time of the injury the work of operating the derrick was being done in the usual and ordinary manner in which it had been done for the several years in which appellee had been in appellant’s employ; that the work was done in a rush and a hurry; that appellee was an experienced man in this kind of work and knew the manner in which it was done, and that if there was danger connected with it appellee knew it when he entered appellant’s service, and knew it still better as he continued to work for appellant from year to year, and must therefore be held to have assumed whatever hazard there was in his employment. It is true the evidence shows that the work in question, at the time appellee was injured, was being done in a rush and hurry; that it was ordinarily so done; that appellant had for several years previously been engaged at similar work for appellant, and was an experienced man therein; but as to the manner in which the derrick with the clamps and chain attached thereto, and which caused the injury, was usually and ordinarily operated, there is a conflict in the evidence. The proof on behalf of appellee tends to show that- it was customary to operate the derrick so that the chain and clamps which were attached to the boom in swinging back and forth during the progress of the work, would be sufficiently raised to go above any person who might be upon the bridge engaged in the work of its construction. The proof on behalf of appellant tends to show that it was customary in the swinging of the boom to raise the chain and clamps just enough to clear the work, and that any one on the bridge" engaged in its construction was supposed to keep watch of its movements and look out for himself. At least two of appellant’s witnesses, however, say that it was customary to raise the clamps so as to pass any obstruction on the work, and one says that “men would be an obstruction.”

We have carefully considered the details of the evidence on this point, and are of opinion that, while the greater number of witnesses support appellant’s contention, it can not be said that the finding of the jury in favor of appellee is clearly and manifestly against the evidence. If the work was not being done, at the time of appellee’s injury, in the usual and customary way, then any hazard therefrom, unless appellee knew of and appreciated it (and the weight of the evidence tends to show he did not), was not assumed by him. We think the verdict on this point should not be disturbed.

As to the next claim, namely, that appellee’s own want of care caused his injury, there is also a conflict in the evidence. There is evidence tending to show that appellee, when struck by the clamps, was standing erect on one of the girders of the bridge near where he knew that every two or three minutes the clamps were being swung back and forth, and where they were plainly visible to him had he looked, and directly in their path; also that he was given ample warning so he could have avoided being struck by stooping down or stepping to one side. This evidence is directly contradicted in so far as it tends to show that appellee knew he was in the path of the clamps, and as to whether any warning given was heard by or made known to appellee in time to enable him to avoid injury. He testifies that, at the time, he was standing erect and on the girder of the bridge; had been engaged in and had finished putting in some bolts of a floor beam, and when struck was starting to the next point; also that in his experience in bridging he never, before this occasion, saw clamps hanging down like these that struck him. As we have seen, other evidence, some of it offered by appellant, corroborates him in this regard. He also says that he didn’t hear any one call to him to get out of the way, and that he didn’t see any signal given. The evidence of appellant shows that there was more or less pounding going on all the time; an engine was running, the boom was swinging, and “there was a great deal of noise.” Appellee had the right to presume, from his past experience, that the clamps would be raised high enough to pass above his head, and the jury might well have found, as we think, after a careful reading of the evidence, that he did not hear any warning given in time to avoid injury, and that he did not see any signal by way of warning which may have been given. The whole evidence bearing on appellee’s care considered, we are of opinion the verdict should not be disturbed.

The other claim made on the merits, namely,-that if there was negligence which caused appellee’s injury, it was that of a fellow-servant, Riordan, whose duty it was to raise the clamps as the boom was swung, is not, in our opinion, sustained by the record. It may be conceded, for the purposes of this decision, that Riordan was negligent in this regard and his negligence contributed to appellee’s injury, but that would not relieve appellant. The jury might well have found from the evidence that Miller, who was appellant’s foreman and controlled the swinging of the boom, knew the danger to which appellee was exposed in case the boom was swung as appellant claims it was ordinarily swung, and as Miller himself swears it was always swung, namely, “ just high enough to clear the girder.”

If Miller knew this danger and knew that appellee was exposed to it, then certainly he was negligent in giving the order to swing the boom as he did, without, at the same time, directing that the clamps be raised so as to go above appellee’s head. This negligence no doubt, as we think is shown by the evidence, was an efficient cause of and contributed to the injury, and appellant would be liable therefor notwithstanding the negligence of a fellow-servant also contributed thereto. Pullman, etc., Co., v. Laack, 143 Ill. 242-61; Amer. Ex. Co. v. Risley, 179 Ill. 295-9; R. R. Co. v. Hines, 183 Ill. 482-5.

In procedure it is claimed a number of errors have intervened, the first of which is that the court erred in refusing to admit in evidence certain statements in writing signed by appellee’s witness Woffington, which contained language claimed to be contradictory of his evidence given on the trial. The statements in question were presented to the witness on cross-examination by defendant’s counsel, and he then admitted they were signed by him. They were marked for identification, and when the defendant reached its side of the case its counsel offered the statements in evidence for the purpose of impeaching the witness, because they were claimed to contradict his evidence, but upon objection they were ruled out. The matter is thus generally stated by appellant’s counsel, and, as stated, the claim seems to have some support by text writers and certain adjudications of the courts. 1 Greenleaf on Evid. (13th Ed.), p. 523; 2 Phillips on Evid. * 963; Queen’s Case, 2 Brod. & Bing. 286; Momence Stone Co. v. Groves,. 197 Ill. 88-92.

This general statement does not, however, fully present the matter as it was before the trial judge.

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Bluebook (online)
108 Ill. App. 423, 1903 Ill. App. LEXIS 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-central-r-r-co-v-wade-illappct-1903.