Illinois Central Railroad v. Fuller

63 So. 265, 106 Miss. 65
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 63 So. 265 (Illinois Central Railroad v. Fuller) 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. Fuller, 63 So. 265, 106 Miss. 65 (Mich. 1913).

Opinion

Reed, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court

This is the second appeal in this case. The first is shown by the report of Fuller v. Illinois Central R. R. Co. in 100 Miss. 705, 56 So. 783. Upon the first trial, after the testimony of the plaintiffs was all introduced, the court, on motion of the defendant, excluded the evidence, and granted a peremptory instruction for defendant. This court, however, decided that the peremptory Instruction should not have been given in the case as then [72]*72presented. The record now before ns discloses that at the second trial the plaintiffs introduced several new witnesses, and the defendant introduced witnesses in its behalf. The second trial was on different facts.

On December 2, 1909, S. A. Fuller was run over and killed by a passenger train of appellant. Appellees, his three children, all of mature years, brought suit against appellant for damages, and the jury awarded them ten thousand dollars. The accident occurred about 5:30 p. m. in the suburbs of Kosciusko, at a private crossing maintained by appellant, and generally used by persons walking and riding. Mr. Fuller, a man seventy-four years of age, but still strong and in good health, was driving a one-horse vehicle at a slow pace along the road which crossed the railroad track; his wagon loaded with two large wooden blocks and some vegetables. When he drew near to the track he did not look about him, but continued facing the direction in which he was going. The railroad runs east and west, and Mr. Fuller was facing north. The train which killed Mr. Fuller was coming from Durant, traveling, therefore, east, and was about thirty minutes late. It was going downgrade at a rate of speed of about thirty or thirty-five miles an hour. There is a slight curve in the track about four hundred and seventy-five feet from the crossing where the accident occurred. It was about nine hundred and seventy feet from the crossing to the point where the engineer whistles for the station, and nine hundred and twenty-four f°,et to where he whistles for the crossing. The headlight on the engine was lighted; but there is testimony to the effect that as the day was approaching dusk it did not cast its light very far, and was of little service in showing the objects ahead. On the south side of the crossing, and about twenty feet from the south rail of the track, there was a pile of crossties along the dirt road, which, to an extent, obstructed the view of a traveler along the road while he was passing it. It is in testimony that the whistle [73]*73was sounded at the station post. It will he noticed that the crossing whistling post was ahont forty-six feet nearer to the crossing than the station whistling post. At the rate at which the train was traveling, the sounding of the whistle at the station post would not be ended until the train passed the crossing post. The sounding for the station could therefore answer for both posts.

Some of the witnesses for appellees say that they did not hear the whistle for the station; some state that they only heard two sharp blasts about the time the train struck Mr. Fuller. One witness says that he heard no whistle until the train reached the crossing, when it blew two short blasts, and then further on it blew “ three tolerably long whistles.” The same witness testified that he was going along the right of way of the railroad, and was about four hundred and fifty or five hundred and twenty-five feet from the crossing; that he looked up the track towards the crossing, and saw Mr. Fuller in his wagon just before he got to the crossing; and that the train passed just-then. This witness does not testify, however, that he saw Mr. Fuller on the track. He said: “I saw him just before he got to the track; he was not far from the road; ’ ’ that there was some distance between the horse’s head and the track when he saw Mr. Fuller in his wagon. He also testified that he did not go down to the place of the accident; that he was in a hurry, and went on his way without making any inquiry into the matter; and that he did not remember whether it was fair or cloudy weather.

The engineer testified that he was within one hundred and eighty feet of Mr. Fuller at the time he first saw him, and that he did everything possible to stop the train and prevent the accident. The train consisted of two passenger coaches, a baggage car, express car, and engine and tender, and there is no testimony of any defects in the train or any of its parts. It was shown by the testimony that the train could not have been stopped in a [74]*74shorter distance than from eight hundred to eight hundred and fifty feet. One witness for appellees testified that he conld see around the curve and into the engineer’s cab at a distance of from twelve hundred feet to fourteen hundred feet. It is not shown that he made examination as to this "at the same hour, 5:30 p. m., in the month of December, the time when the accident occurred. It is shown by testimony for appellees that Mr. Fuller had not reached the track when the train had gotten within about one hundred and fifty yards of the crossing.

It is in testimony that Mr. Fuller was earning by his work on his farm from three hundred to three hundred and fifty dollars per year. Counsel for appellant in their brief claim that in accordance with the table of mortality his expectancy at the age of seventy-four years would be about six and one-half years, and that therefore the amount which he could earn, if he lived out the full expectancy, would be not more than two thousand dollars.

Appellant assigns as an error the refusal by the court to give a peremptory instruction in its favor. From a full and careful consideration of all the facts presented, we believe that the case should have gone to the jury, and therefore we decide that this contention is not well taken.

Appellant claims that the court erred in giving an instruction authorizing recovery for pain and suffering. We find the following in instruction number 2 given appel-lees: “Also any additional sum you may believe will compensate them for any pain or suffering that might have been sustained, if any, by the deceased at the time he was run over and killed by said railroad company.” The evidence shows that the death of Mr. Fuller was practically instantaneous. His body was found over one hundred feet from the crossing where he was struck. It was broken and mangled, and from the severity of the blow when the train struck him, and the injuries which he received, we cannot escape the conclusion that his death [75]*75was as near instantaneous as possible. Now, our statute (section 721, Code of 1906, as amended by Laws of 1908, p. 183) authorizes tbe recovery of “such damages as the jury may determine to be just, taking into consideration all the damages of every kind to the decedent, and all damages of every kind to all parties interested in the suit.” The damage from pain and suffering would be damage to the decedent. As he was killed instantly, there was no pain and suffering to him; therefore there would be no damage to him to be recovered by appellees.

In the case of Railroad Co. v. Moore, 101 Miss. 768, 58 So. 471, 39 L. R. A. (N.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

66 Federal Credit Union v. Tucker
853 So. 2d 104 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 2003)
66 Federal Credit Union v. Tracy Tucker
Mississippi Supreme Court, 2001
Thompson v. Love
661 So. 2d 1131 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1995)
Flight Line, Inc. v. Tanksley
608 So. 2d 1149 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1992)
Thornton v. Insurance Company of North America
287 So. 2d 262 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1973)
Scott v. Munn
146 So. 2d 564 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1962)
Coliseum Motor Co. v. Hester
3 P.2d 105 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1931)
Seaboard Air Line Railway Co. v. Ebert
138 So. 4 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1931)
Gulf Refining Co. v. Miller
121 So. 482 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1929)
Paul v. Commercial Bank
68 So. 68 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 So. 265, 106 Miss. 65, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-central-railroad-v-fuller-miss-1913.