Illinois Central Railroad v. Hall ex rel. Hall

241 So. 2d 636, 1970 Miss. LEXIS 1347
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 7, 1970
DocketNo. 45991
StatusPublished

This text of 241 So. 2d 636 (Illinois Central Railroad v. Hall ex rel. Hall) 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. Hall ex rel. Hall, 241 So. 2d 636, 1970 Miss. LEXIS 1347 (Mich. 1970).

Opinion

JONES, Justice:

On August 15, 1968, appellants’ engine and appellee’s car collided where the track of the railroad crosses Concord Street in the City of Natchez.

Asserting injuries, appellee sued in the Circuit Court of Adams County, obtained judgment for $3,000. Hence this appeal. We affirm.

Three assignments of error claim insufficiency of the evidence to show negligence. Appellee’s instruction Number 5 is alleged to be erroneous, and it is asserted the ver-diet is excessive.

The proof had many contradictions. Appellee was employed and about 7:45 a. m. was on her way to work. Concord Street runs in a general east and west direction. It leaves a four-lane road running north and south, and goes west for a short distance before reaching the crossing. Ap-pellee had traveled the road many times on her way to work and was familiar with it. The track ran about north and south. Appellants’ engine at the time was traveling south and appellee west.

The pictures introduced show that the tracks at the crossing are much higher than the approaches. To the north, the pictures show much foliage and many bushes and trees so that it is difficult to see.

Appellee neared the crossing with at least two cars behind her car — the third car was driven by Mrs. Martha Rice. The driver of the second car was unknown, since he did not stop — apparently not desiring to “be involved.”

The appellee testified that she, being familiar with the situation, stopped at the “Stop” sign and listened carefully; that her windows were down on both sides; she had no air conditioning; and the radio was off. She listened carefully for train signals because she was afraid of the crossing. There was nothing to interfere with her hearing and that definitely there were no signals until after she had started again and was within a foot or two of the crossing. She did not see the train until that point. She then tried to turn to the left and go around the front of the engine but was struck and knocked to the west and south side of the crossing.

Mrs. Martha Rice, in the second car behind appellee, also testified she was familiar with the crossing and stopped to look and listen. She testified that she saw no train [638]*638until it was practically on the crossing; that she had no air conditioner; that she was listening to the radio; and that her windows were up but the vents were open. She heard no signals. She said she did not know whether appellant stopped at the stop sign, but there was, as stated above, another car in front of her, between her car and appellee’s.

As opposed to this, the appellant engineer testified the signals were given as required by statute. When called as an adverse witness he became confused, but on being recalled, testified as above.

He said the stop sign was forty-five or fifty feet from the crossing; that as he came within forty or fifty feet of the crossing he could see down Concord Street to the highway from which it extended; that the appellee did not stop at the sign and, later, he said that he first saw her about twenty-five feet from the crossing which, of course, was past the crossing sign. After this he did not say she did not stop, but only that he “didn’t see her stop.” He also said he could stop the engine at the speed it was going in about forty to fifty feet, and that he did stop on the crossing.

One Larry Chauvin testified he came from the Armstrong plant on the west side of the track; that he saw the train and heard the signals; that as he approached the crossing on the west side, in Concord Street, he saw appellee and that she did not stop at the sign. It was for the jury to say whether he could see her fifty feet over the crossing or whether the rise in the road prevented vision.

This evidence made a case for jury decision and the lower court was not in error in letting the case go to them.

The appellee’s instruction, to which appellant objects, reads:

The Court charges you that if any nine (9) of you find for the minor Plaintiff, it is not necessary for all twelve of you to concur in the amount to be awarded. Nine of you may agree upon the amount and return that amount into court as the amount determined by the jury.
The Court further charges you that if you find for the minor Plaintiff, you shall take the following things into consideration in arriving at your verdict: Pain and suffering, if any; medical expenses, if any; injuries to Plaintiff’s body, if any; and, the duration of such injuries, all as may be shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the Plaintiff sustained as a proximate result of the collision. The Plaintiff is entitled to be fully compensated for her injuries and damages, and on those elements of damages stated above that you find to be present from the evidence, it is your duty to place a value on such element, or elements, even though it may be difficult to determine from the evidence.

The argument is that the instruction is a peremptory because of the last sentence, even though the entire instruction was predicated upon a finding for Plaintiff.

Appellant secured instructions:

(1) Permitting comparative negligence to be applied;

(2) That on failure of plaintiff to prove her case by a preponderance of evidence, verdict should be for appellant;

(3) That it was necessary to prove negligence on part of appellant and that it was a proximate cause;

(4) That if they (the jury) believed the bell was rung and whistle blown and should have been heard by appellee before going on the track, it was not necessary to show that she actually heard;

(5) That if the jury believed appellee should have seen the train approaching, then, as a matter of law, she did see it;

(6) That if appellee’s negligence was the sole proximate cause, the jury should find for appellant; and

[639]*639(7) That damages, if any, should be reasonable.

On this issue we think the instructions as a whole fairly presented the case and that the instruction quoted was not reversible error.

It is further said that the statement in the instruction that she should be “fully” compensated is reversible error.

On this issue we quote from Mississippi decisions:

In Mobile & O. R. Co. v. Campbell, 114 Miss. 803, 75 So. 554 (1917), the Court said:

Keeping in mind, then, the facts of the case, there is no real cause to complain at instruction No. 1 because it authorizes the jury to return a verdict for “full damages.” The word “full” is here more nearly synonymous with the word “all,” and simply means such damages as the jury think the plaintiff is warranted in receiving. (114 Miss, at 825, 75 So. at 559).

From the above mentioned case, we again quote:

As applied to the facts of the case, instruction No. 1 properly defined the duty imposed upon the defendant, and it only remains to determine whether the words “full damages” nullified the defendant’s plea of contributory negligence.

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Related

Standard Oil Co. v. Crane
23 So. 2d 297 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1945)
Mobile & O. R. v. Campbell
75 So. 554 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1917)
Davis v. McCullers
89 So. 158 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1921)

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Bluebook (online)
241 So. 2d 636, 1970 Miss. LEXIS 1347, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-central-railroad-v-hall-ex-rel-hall-miss-1970.