Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction Co. v. Hardwick

123 N.E. 249, 70 Ind. App. 192, 1919 Ind. App. LEXIS 23
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided May 14, 1919·No. No. 9,841·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Nichols, J.

This was an action brought by the appellee against the appellant to recover damages for [194] tlie death of her husband, John Hardwick, who was killed by being struck by one of appellant’s work trains. The complaint was in one paragraph, to which a demurrer was filed by appellant and overruled by the court. Appellant filed a general denial to the complaint, and the cause was submitted to the jury for trial. There was a general verdict for $2,500, with answers to interrogatories. The appellant made its motion for judgment in its. favor on the interrogatories and answers thereto, which was overruled, to which ruling the appellant excepted. Judgment was entered on the general verdict in favor of the appellee in the sum of $2,500 and costs. From this judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

Errors relied upon for reversal are: (1) The court erred in overruling appellant’s demurrer to the complaint. (2) The court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment in its favor upon the interrogatories answered by the jury notwithstanding the general verdict. (3) The court erred in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.

The substance of the complaint, so far as is necessary for this decision, is as follows: The appellee is the administratrix of the estate of John Hardwick, deceased. The appellant at the time of the accident resulting in the death of appellee’s decedent operated a street railway from the city of Indianapolis to the city of Connersville, Indiana, as a common carrier of passengers for hire. Stop 33 was one of its stopping places, at which it stopped upon signal given to the motorman in charge of the car. In order to give such a signal after dark, it was customary for intended passengers to enter upon the track at said stopping place and swing a light across the track in [195] front of the approaching car; snch custom was well known to the defendant company. On November 27, 1911, it was, and had been for a long time prior thereto, the custom, and the schedule time, of the defendant company to run one of its passenger cars in a westerly direction passing stop 33 at about 6:00 p. m., which car, upon signal given, would stop to take passengers, all of which was well known both to thé-deceased and the appellant. About 6:00 p. m. of said day, being after dark, the deceased went to' said stop 33 for the purpose of taking passage on appellant’s car due to pass about that time, and, while deceased was waiting for such car to arrive, the appellant carelessly and negligently approached said stop from the east, with a work car, which looked like, and had the appearance of, a passenger car which was then about due at said stop, which car was equipped and lighted with electric lights in the same manner as such passenger cars, and carelessly and negligently had attached to the front end of said car four cinder trucks, which trucks were about five feet lower than the said work car, and extended about 200 feet in front of said work car. Appellant carelessly and negligently placed lights in said work car, and carelessly and negligently failed to place any light or lights or signal of warning on said cinder trucks, and carelessly and negligently failed to give warning to the deceased of the position of said cinder trucks. On account of the darkness, and of the negligence of the defendant as aforesaid, said cinder trucks could not be seen by a person standing near said track at said stop in time to avoid being-struck by them. On said November 27, 1911, as the defendant approached said stop with said work car, and said cinder trucks in front of said work car, de[196] ceased, believing it was one of its passenger cars that was about to pass said stop aforesaid, went upon the track with a lighted lantern in his hand to signal such car to stop for the purpose of taking passage on the same, and while he was in the act of signaling said car to stop he did not know of said cinder trucks, and could not see them in time to avoid being struck by them. The defendant carelessly and negligently approached, and carelessly and negligently ran its cinder trucks against and over the deceased and thereby killed him. The complaint further avers that the deceased left surviving him the appellee as his widow and seven minor children all dependent upon him for support and maintenance. There is a prayer for damages in the sum of $10,000.

1. The appellant failed to except to the ruling of the court in overruling its demurrer to the complaint, and has thereby waived the question, and such ruling will not be reviewed. Young v. McLane (1856), 8 Ind. 357. We do not need to cite other authorities; this rule is elementary.

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Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction Co. v. Hardwick, 123 N.E. 249, 70 Ind. App. 192, 1919 Ind. App. LEXIS 23 (Ind. Ct. App. 1919).

123 N.E. 249 (Indianapolis & Cincinnati Traction Co. v. Hardwick) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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