Jachetta v. San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad

105 P. 100, 36 Utah 470, 1909 Utah LEXIS 87
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 8, 1909
DocketNo. 2025
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 105 P. 100 (Jachetta v. San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jachetta v. San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad, 105 P. 100, 36 Utah 470, 1909 Utah LEXIS 87 (Utah 1909).

Opinion

McCAKTY, J.

Plaintiff,1 Nick Jachetta, by his guardian ad litem, Raphael Jachetta, brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff in a collision of a train of cars loaded with lumber and bridge timbers, upon which plaintiff was being carried, with two box cars which had been left standing upon defendant’s main line of rail[473]*473road track. The complaint, among other things, alleges that defendant carelessly and negligently omitted to place any watchman or lookout upon the front of said train, and upon the forward flat car upon which plaintiff was being carried, and negligently .failed and omitted to take reasonable precaution to watch the track in advance of sáid train, and carelessly and negligently caused said train to run at a high and dangerous rate of speed of more than thirty miles per hour, along and over its track, and to Collide with two box cars which defendant had carelessly and negligently left standing upon the main line of its track. The answer of defendant denied all' the allegations of negligence set out in the complaint and affirmatively alleged that there was no statute in the state of Nevada at the time of the collision in which plaintiff was injured governing the relation of master and servant, and that the negligence, if any, which caused plaintiff’s injuries, was that of his fellow-servants. A trial was had to a jury, who found the issues in favor of the plaintiff and assessed his damages at seven thousand dollars. From the judgment entered on the verdict, defendant has appealed.

The material' facts, briefly stated, are about as follows: In the month of February, 1907, plaintiff was in the employ of the Los Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company in the state of Nevada. The railroad line of defendant passes through-Lincoln county, state of Nevada, and at Los Vegas in said county forms a junction with the Los Vegas & Tono-pah Railroad. Plaintiff, with about three hundred fellow laborers, all under the direction and supervision of John Conway, who was general foreman and assistant superintendent of construction for the Los Vegas & Tonopah Railroad Company, was engaged in constructing the railroad grade and laying the tracks of said company in the state of Nevada. These laborers, including plaintiff, lived in an outfit train of about thirty cars. On or about February 25, 1907, this outfit train and the laborers mentioned, including plaintiff, were transferred along the line of the Los Vegas & Tonopah Railroad to Los Vegas and there turned [474]*474over and delivered to tbe operatives of tbe defendant, tbe San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Company, to be transported' along tbe line of defendant’s road to a point where tbe road bad been damaged and rendered impassable for trains by fresbets and flood waters. On tbe 26th and 27th of February, 1907, tbe outfit train was moved along tbe line of defendant’s road easterly from Los Vegas during which time plaintiff and bis fellow laborers worked under Conway on tbe road repairing tbe same where it bad been damaged by flood waters. Plaintiff and bis fellow laborers still remained in tbe employ of tbe Los Vegas & Tonopab Railroad Company and were paid by tbat company for tbe labor they performed upon tbe defendant’s road. These men, including tbe plaintiff, were under tbe direct control and supervision of Conway, who received orders respecting tbe work tbat was being performed from R K. Brown, defendant’s engineer of “maintenance of way.” Brown, in bis testimony, said tbat be never spoke to tbe men (referring to tbe plaintiff and bis fellow laborers).

On tbe evening of February 27, 1907, tbe outfit train arrived at Leitb, a station on defendant’s road about eighty miles east of Los Vegas. At this time tbe following officials of defendant company were at Leitb: Mr. Wells, superintendent, Mr. Tilton, general engineer, Mr. W. H. Smith, trainmaster, and R. K. Brown, tbe engineer in charge of tbe construction and repair work on defendant’s line of road. Mr. Brown bad charge of and directed tbe rebuilding of tbe washed out roadbed from Leitb to tbe point where tbe collision occurred. He bad general supervision of this outfit train and crew. He directed tbe movements of tbe train and gave instructions to John Conway, who was in charge of plaintiff and bis colaborers, respecting tbe work of reconstruction as it progressed. On tbe night of February 27th, Mr. Brown sent a train loaded with material, in charge of Conductor Frank P. O’Shay, two or three miles east of Leitb, and two box cars loaded with ties and bridge timbers were left upon tbe main track near a point where a bridge bad been washed out from one hundred and sixty to two hundred feet from tbe end of a fifty or sixty degree [475]*475curve in a rock cut The distance from one end of the curve to the other was from twelve hundred to fourteen hundred feet. The two box cars mentioned could be seen from the center of the cut, but could not be seen from a train approaching from the west until the center of the curve was reached. On the morning of February 28th, the defendant company made up1 a train at Leith consisting of two flat cars, one of which was loaded with lumber, and the other with bridge timbers, pushed by an engine with a caboose attached to the rear of the. engine. The bridge timbers were piled about five or six feet high upon the cars. Plaintiff and his fellow laborers, about three hundred in all, under the direction of John Conway, climbed upon these loaded cars to be carried to their work at the washout. This train was in charge of Conductor 0;Shay, who had placed the two box cars mentioned upon the main track the evening before. Mr. Spencer, the engineer of this train, had never been over the road east of Leith before, and he was not advised of the presence of the boxcars upon the main track; nor did he receive any special instructions from either the trainmaster or B. E. Brown respecting this work train and the manner in which he should run and operate it on that occasion. Defendant has a book of printed rules which were in force at the time the collision in question occurred. One of these rules provides that, “when cars are pushed by an engine, except when shifting and making up trains in yards, a flagman must take a conspicuous position on the front of the leading car and signal the enginemen in case of need.” Another rule provides that, when trainmen leave cars standing on the track, they must protect such cars by a trainman and a flag, and immediately notify the chief train dispatcher. Neither of these rules was observed on the morning of the. collision. When the work train pulled out from Leith on the morning of February 28 th, there was neither a flag nor a flagman on the train; nor was there any member of the train crew on the front car. O’Shay, the conductor in charge of the train, rode in the cab of the engine with the engineer. The cars were pushed down the [476]*476track at a speed of about thirty miles am hour. This rate of speed was maintained until the train collided with the two box cars that bad been left standing on the main track the night before. The force of the collision threw the timbers and men, including the plaintiff, from the flat cars to the ground with great force.. It is admitted that one of the timbers “hit plaintiff upon the head, inflicting an injury as a result of which his skull was fractured and his nerves and brain injured and the sight of his left eye lost.”

The evidence shows that the plaintiff was twenty-six years of age; that prior and up to the time of the accident he was a strong, healthy man, a good workman, and was earning two dollars per day.

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Bluebook (online)
105 P. 100, 36 Utah 470, 1909 Utah LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jachetta-v-san-pedro-los-angeles-salt-lake-railroad-utah-1909.