Illinois Central Railroad v. Crawford

140 So. 2d 90, 244 Miss. 300, 1962 Miss. LEXIS 450
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1962
DocketNo. 42215
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 140 So. 2d 90 (Illinois Central Railroad v. Crawford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Central Railroad v. Crawford, 140 So. 2d 90, 244 Miss. 300, 1962 Miss. LEXIS 450 (Mich. 1962).

Opinion

McG-ehee, C. J.

The appellee, Carl M. Crawford, brought this suit in the Circuit Court of Bolivar County, Mississippi, seeking to recover damages for personal injuries received on September 18, 1959, at Inverness, Mississippi. The suit was against the Fernwood Industries, a Mississippi corporation, located at Fernwood in Pike County, Mississippi, and against the Mississippi Power and Light Company, a Florida corporation, and the appellant, Illinois Central Railroad Company, an Illinois corporation.

At the beginning of the trial the plaintiff stated that he had settled with the Mississippi Power and Light Company for the sum of $1,000, and the suit was dismissed as to said defendant at the request of the plaintiff and by order of the court. The trial proceeded against the other defendants, Fernwood Industries and the Illinois Central Railroad Company, and a verdict was rendered against the said two defendants for the sum of $17,000. Thereafter the Fernwood Industries settled its part of the judgment by a payment of $8,000 to the plaintiff and this appeal is by the Illinois Central Railroad Company alone.

The declaration alleged that the Fernwood Industries processed and shipped creosoted poles; that the defendant railroad company transported such poles for hire to their point of destination on the railroad and that the Mississippi Power and Light Company was the purchaser of said poles at the point of destination. It was further alleged that the transmission poles were loaded on September 9, 1R5.9, at Fernwood, Mississippi; on two [305]*305flatcars and that there were thirty of such poles shipped to the Mississippi Power and Light Company at Inverness, Mississippi. Twenty-two of these creosoted poles were seventy feet in length and the remaining eight of them were seventy-five feet in length.

The declaration further alleged that the waybill covering this shipment was issued by the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Bailroad, not a party to this suit, showing the routing, and this waybill was introduced in evidence. The proof disclosed that the poles -were caused to be loaded by the Fernwood Industries and were transported a short distance by the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Bailroad and delivered to the appellant Illinois Central Bailroad Company. When the load of poles arrived at the yards of Illinois Central in Jackson, Mississippi, it was inspected and found that the two bands at the top of the two inside stakes had slipped out of the seal, allowing the north end of the poles to lean westward. A dragline and boom or a derrick were used to straighten the load, and new bands were applied in order that the load of poles might be safely transported to its destination. The adjustment of the load was made for the purpose of making the load suitable for transportation. After leaving Jackson the load was transported 123 miles to Inverness.

The consignee, the Mississippi Power and Light Company, whose duty it was to unload the poles at their destination, had hired Mr. Meredith to unload them. Meredith, like the plaintiff, was an operator of heavy equipment. The poles were estimated to weigh 140,000 pounds.

Before attempting to unload the poles, the load was standing on a spur track on the east side of and parallel to the main line of the railroad with telegraph poles between the tracks. A telegiaph pole was near the northwest corner of the load. Those present at the site were the plaintiff, Carl M. Crawford, his employer, Mr. Mere[306]*306dith, Mr. Sykes, representing the Mississippi Power and Light Company and a Mr. Pulton, another employee of Meredith. No representative of the appellant, Illinois Central Railroad Company was present. All four of the above-named gentlemen examined the load by walking around the flatcars and looking at the load. Their' inspection disclosed nothing objectional or dangerous.

Before cutting any bands that encircled the load of poles, the four men present placed additional stakes on the north end of the load on the west side to protect the telegraph pole against the possibility of becoming damaged. Mr. Meredith, the employer of the plaintiff, had planned to pull the bands loose by using the dragline and boom which the plaintiff was operating. The proof discloses that the plaintiff knew that the unloading could have been accomplished in this manner. However, Mr. Sykes of the Mississippi Power and Light Company instructed that the bands around the poles be cut by hand, in order to safeguard the telegraph pole from damage.

Following the instructions of Mr. Sykes as to the manner of unloading, Mr. Meredith cut the bands on the top of the north end of the load, and Mr. Fulton was also on top of the load and he testified that the poles shifted when the bands were first cut. Mr. Meredith also testified that theie was some shift in the load at the time, and that he knew that it “wasn’t exactly right”. Thereafter Meredith and Fulton left the top of the load and the plaintiff, who had requested that the ax be thrown to him, commenced cutting the bands at the south end of the load. When he cut the bands from around the stakes on the south end of the load, and which bands were holding the load of poles on the flatcar, the poles rolled off the car, injuring the plaintiff.

We have carefully considered all of the testimony in this three volume record together with the rules and regulations of the Association of American Railroads [307]*307which were introduced in evidence and which we understand to impose on the shipper or at least the initial carrier, in this instance the Fernwood, Columbia and Gulf Railroad, the duty of so loading the poles that they can be safely transported to the point of destination and there safely unloaded, and which rules and regulations also impose upon the consignee the duty of unloading the poles after the same have been safely transported to the point of destination.

The delivering carrier was entitled to assume that those unloading the poles would exercise reasonable care in doing so. United States Steel Corp. v. McCraney, (5th Cir.) 257 F. 2d 457 and Nashville Bridge Co. v. Ritch, (5th Cir.), 276 F. 2d 171. See also American Creosote Works of Louisiana v. Harp, 215 Miss. 5, 60 So. 2d 514.

We are of the opinion that the method by which Mr. Sykes required the poles to be unloaded, and the act of the plaintiff in taking the ax and cutting into the bands which encircled the load of poles and which were for the purpose of holding the poles together in a pile on the flatcars, were the two contributing and proximate causes of the plaintiff’s injuries. We fail to find in the record any evidence of negligence on the part of the appellant, Illinois Central Railroad Company, that either caused or contributed to the plaintiff’s injuries, but that his injury was due solely to the method which Mr. Skyes required to be employed for unloading the poles and the act of the plaintiff in cutting the bands loose instead of using the dragline and boom as Mr. Meredith had originally planned. The request for a directed verdict in favor of the defendant, Illinois Central Railroad Company, should have been granted.

Reversed and judgment here for appellant.

Kyle, Gillespie, Rodgers and Jones, JJ., concur.

[308]*308Rodgers, J.

ON SUGGESTION OF ERROR

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Bluebook (online)
140 So. 2d 90, 244 Miss. 300, 1962 Miss. LEXIS 450, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-central-railroad-v-crawford-miss-1962.