Johnson v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co.

132 N.E.2d 678, 9 Ill. App. 2d 340
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 28, 1956
DocketGen. 10,863, 10,874
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 132 N.E.2d 678 (Johnson v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co., 132 N.E.2d 678, 9 Ill. App. 2d 340 (Ill. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

JUSTICE EOVALDI

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit brought by the administrator of the estate of Marian Johnson, a grandchild, age 8, against the estate of her grandmother, Ethel Mullins, age 67, and the Chicago & North Western Railway Company. Both suffered fatal injuries when Mrs. Mullins on the 15th day of December, 1951, drove an automobile in which Marian was riding past an operating wig-wag signal onto the Sixth Street Railroad crossing in DeKalb, Illinois, and in front of a clearly visible oncoming freight train.

Trial in the circuit court of DeKalb County, Illinois, resulted in jury verdicts of not guilty as to the North Western and a verdict of $11,500 against the defendant, Oliver E. Fraser, administrator of the estate of the grandmother. Subsequent motions were overruled and judgment was entered in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant, Oliver E. Fraser, administrator as aforesaid, in the said sum of $11,500, and judgment was entered in favor of the North Western, and against the plaintiff.

The defendant-appellant, Oliver E. Fraser, administrator, took this appeal from the judgment entered against him in Case No. 10863. The plaintiff, William Johnson, administrator as aforesaid, took an appeal from the judgment against him and in favor of the North Western, that case being No. 10874 in this court. After the cases were docketed in this court, an order was entered directing that they be consolidated in the court for the purposes of hearings and oral argument, that only one set of the briefs and abstracts be required and that all filings in the consolidated cases be filed under the original appeal, namely No. 10863.

The original complaint filed on December 13, 1952, consisted of five Counts, to wit: Count I, a negligence Count against the defendant railroad; Count II, a wilful and wanton Count against defendant Fraser, administrator, alleging plaintiff’s intestate was a guest; Count III, a wilful and wanton Count against the defendant railroad; Count IV, a joint charge of negligence against the defendant railroad and wilful and wanton misconduct against defendant Fraser, administrator; Count V, a joint charge of wilful and wanton misconduct against both defendants. Answers were filed denying the allegations of the complaint.

On the date the case was called for trial, i. e., November 8, 1954, counsel for plaintiff upon motion was granted leave to file an amendment to said complaint consisting of two additional Counts, being Counts VI and VII. By Count VI it was alleged that plaintiff’s intestate was a passenger and not a guest and that Ethel E. Mullins was guilty of negligence. By Count VII, it was alleged that plaintiff’s intestate was a passenger and not a guest in the automobile of defendant’s intestate and that both defendants, Ethel E. Mullins and the railroad, were guilty of joint negligence.

Upon the filing of said amendment to the complaint and the additional Counts VI and VII, defendant Fraser, administrator, asked and was granted leave to file a motion to strike Counts IV, VI and VII of said complaint on the grounds of surprise as to Counts VI and VII and that Count IV improperly joined a negligence charge against the railroad and a wilful and wanton charge against defendant Fraser, administrator, in a single Count, and as to Counts VI and VII, that it appeared from the face of the complaint that the plaintiff’s intestate was, as a matter of law, a guest passenger in the automobile of defendant’s intestate at the time of the occurrence in question and that under the Guest Act, no action by a guest against a driver could be brought except for the wilful and wanton misconduct of the driver, and that an allegation of negligence against , the driver was insufficient. The motion to ..strike was denied. Whereupon, defendant Fraser, administrator, after leave granted, filed a motion to require plaintiff to make additional Counts VI and VII more specific, to allege facts upon which it was plain that plaintiff’s intestate was a passenger and not a guest in the automobile of Ethel E. Mullins, deceased. The court granted said motion.

Plaintiff thereupon filed a second amendment to the complaint being additional paragraphs 3a to additional Counts VI. and- VII in the words and figures, as follows:

“That at said time and place the plaintiff’s intestate being a child eight years of age as aforesaid was under the custody and control of said Ethel E. Mullins and subject to her directions, that she became a passenger in said automobile of Ethel E. Mullins at the direction of said Ethel E. Mullins and was at the time and place of the occurrence in question a passenger in said automobile without payment for the ride, at the direction of the said Ethel E. Mullins; that plaintiff’s intestate at the time and place of the occurrence in question owed to the said Ethel E. Mullins a duty of obedience and submission and by reason of the premises aforesaid was not a voluntary guest passenger in said automobile.”

Upon the filing of said amendment defendant Fraser, administrator, after leave granted, filed a motion to strike the second amendment to the complaint on the ground that it appeared from the face of the complaint that the plaintiff’s intestate was, as a matter of law, a guest passenger in the automobile of defendant’s intestate, Ethel E. Mullins, and that the allegations of the second amendment to the complaint were wholly insufficient in law and in fact to sustain the position that plaintiff’s intestate was not a guest passenger in said automobile at the time and place of the occurrence in question. Said motion to strike the second amendment to the complaint was denied. Defendant Fraser, administrator, then obtained leave to file an answer to the amendment and second amendment to the complaint, and filed his answer denying the allegations of said amendments to the complaint. During the period of time that the amendments were made to the complaint, the court inquired of defense counsel:

“I don’t hear any request for a continuance on the grounds of surprise, do I?”

and defense counsel answered:

“Mr. Q-obel: Not on our part.

“Mr. Maynard: No.”

At the trial, plaintiff withdrew the wilful and wanton Counts as to the defendant, Chicago & North Western Railway Company.

Defendant-appellant Fraser, administrator, contends that plaintiff’s intestate was a guest in the automobile of Ethel E. Mullins, deceased, as a matter of law; that the trial court should have stricken the negligence Counts of the complaint against him as administrator ; that the trial court should not have submitted the legal question of status of Marian Johnson, as passenger or guest, to the jury on undisputed evidence, as a matter of fact; that there was no sufficient evidence of wilful and wanton misconduct on the part of Ethel E. Mullins, deceased, to sustain a general verdict against her on the wilful and wanton Counts, and the court should have granted defendant Fraser’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; that the trial court erroneously admitted incompetent testimony and gave erroneous instructions; and that the verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence.

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

Related

Galindo v. Riddell, Inc.
437 N.E.2d 376 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1982)
Rodriguez v. City of Chicago
316 N.E.2d 88 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1974)
Palleson v. Jewell Cooperative Elevator
219 N.W.2d 8 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1974)
Rakers v. Southern Railway Co.
290 N.E.2d 421 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1972)
Rosenbaum v. Raskin
243 N.E.2d 616 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1968)
Neubauer v. Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Chicago
238 N.E.2d 437 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1968)
Ziegler v. Smith
229 N.E.2d 340 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1967)
Bernier v. Skripek
229 N.E.2d 890 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1967)
Rosbottom v. Hensley
209 N.E.2d 655 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1965)
Miksatka v. Illinois Northern Railway Co.
199 N.E.2d 74 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1964)
Shafer v. Northside Inn, Inc.
194 N.E.2d 5 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1963)
Whitfield v. Bruegel
190 N.E.2d 670 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1963)
Kosowski v. McDonald Elevator Co.
179 N.E.2d 469 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1962)
McCormick v. Kopmann
161 N.E.2d 720 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1959)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 N.E.2d 678, 9 Ill. App. 2d 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-chicago-north-western-railway-co-illappct-1956.