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Koop v. Great Northern Railway Co.

28 N.W.2d 687, 224 Minn. 286, 1947 Minn. LEXIS 534
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 3, 1947
DocketNo. 34,887.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 28 N.W.2d 687 (Koop v. Great Northern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koop v. Great Northern Railway Co., 28 N.W.2d 687, 224 Minn. 286, 1947 Minn. LEXIS 534 (Mich. 1947).

Opinions

Magney, Justice.

Plaintiff, having recovered a verdict of $50,000 against defendant, the latter appeals from the order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial.

First avenue northeast, also known as Riverside Drive, in the city of St. Cloud, crosses the tracks of defendant. The width of this street between property lines is 66 feet. From the property line to the sidewalk on each side is 11 feet. The sidewalks are 4 feet wide. The black-topped driving surface is 30 feet wide. Between the sidewalks and the paved area are boulevards 3 feet wide. The street runs in a general north and south direction. North of defendant’s main track and within a few feet of it is a spur track running to a coal shed, located east of the street, 27.35 feet from the center of the main-line track, and 24.4 feet from the pavement. An arc light is suspended 23.4 feet above the center of the street about 100 feet north of the main line. On the west side of the street, the distance from the center of the main line to the north line of the right of way is 75 feet. Where the north line of the right of way and the west property line of the street intersect is a box-elder tree, 18 inches in diameter, the trunk touching the right of way, but practically all of it on the street right of way. The branches extend 9 feet easterly from the westerly curb line, with the lower branches 9 or 10 feet from the ground. North of the tracks and 4.7 feet west of the sidewalk is a standard crossing sign with the words “Railroad Crossing” on it. On the post of this crossbuck sign, 7 feet above the ground, there is a sign with the word “Stop” in large letters, lighted by a kerosene lamp on each side of it. On the south side of the *288 tracks and to the east of the street is a street railroad crossing sign 12 feet high with the word “Danger” on a metal cross piece, with a flashlight signal operated by a battery and equipped with a bell which sounds when a train approaches and crosses the street. Between the sidewalk and the curb at that point there is also a standard crossing sign. The street is straight for approximately 900 feet to the north of the tracks. The elevation 640 feet north of the tracks is 96.2 feet above city datum line. From that point on there is a gradual rise toward the tracks. The elevation of the main line is 100.48 feet. In something over 600 feet, therefore, the upgrade is about 4.23 feet. The elevation 340 feet north of the tracks is 3.9 feet below the level of the tracks. The elevation 140 feet north of the tracks is 97.5 feet, or 2.93 feet below the level of the rails, and 40 feet from the tracks it is 99.1 feet, or 1.33 feet below the level of the rails. At no point within 640 feet of the tracks is there a downgrade.

The accompanying photograph (exhibit B), taken to the right of the center of the street and 125 feet north of the tracks, gives a better idea of the crossing in question than is possible by a mere description in words.

Shortly after five o’clock on the morning of August 31,1945, plaintiff and his wife, on their way home from a friend’s home in Sauk Rapids, were approaching this crossing from the north at 25 to 30 miles an hour in a Cadillac automobile owned and operated by the wife. They ran into a moving freight train heading west. Plaintiff and his wife were seriously injured. The train, made up of about 50 boxcars, gondolas and tank cars, an engine, and a caboose, but no flatcars, was crossing the street at 3 to 8 miles an hour. After the accident, the automobile was standing about in the center of the street, about 6 or 7 feet from the train, facing the tracks. The train crew knew nothing of the accident until the following afternoon. The whistle was blowing and the bell ringing when the engine crossed the street, and the signal crossing bell south of the tracks was sounding.

*289

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 N.W.2d 687, 224 Minn. 286, 1947 Minn. LEXIS 534, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koop-v-great-northern-railway-co-minn-1947.