Kopischke v. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co.

40 N.W.2d 834, 230 Minn. 23, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 579
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 6, 1950
DocketNo. 35,010
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 40 N.W.2d 834 (Kopischke v. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha 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
Kopischke v. Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway Co., 40 N.W.2d 834, 230 Minn. 23, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 579 (Mich. 1950).

Opinion

Magnet, Justice.

Plaintiff’s truck was damaged in a railroad crossing accident. There was a verdict for plaintiff. Defendant appeals from an order denying its alternative motion for judgment or a new trial.

[24]*24Plaintiff is the owner of a farm which adjoins defendant’s right of way to the west on the southerly outskirts of Lake Crystal. The farm is reached over a private road from the east which crosses defendant’s tracks. These run north and south. On November 15, 1947, at about 5 or 5:30 p.m., Laverne Kopisehke, son of plaintiff, was operating plaintiff’s two-ton Ford truck west over and on this crossing. It was struck by a northbound freight train.

Laverne was returning from Lake Crystal, where he had purchased groceries for plaintiff’s household. When he reached the crossing it was dark and, in his words, snowing “big flakes.” He approached the tracks, stopped, and started across. There was an upgrade on the road from the crossing toward the west. At 8 feet from the track the grade was 8/10 of a foot (about 3.6 inches) above the rail, or a 4.5 percent grade. At 25 feet it was 1.1 feet or an average grade of 4.4 percent. A plank parallel with the rail had been placed against each rail on the inner side. Between these two planks there was an open or unplanked space. There was also a plank on the outside of each rail. As Laverne proceeded across the track, the rear wheels settled down into a hole between the two inside planks. He testified:

“* * * As I got into that, I sunk down a little which made it hard to go forward or backward.”

He also said:

“* * * The amount of snow that had fallen spun the wheels and made it slippery from the ice on the tires in that hole. * * *
* * * * *
“* * * I kept backing up a couple feet and going forward. So I was sitting there trying to get out and I happened to look to the south and saw a small light which I knew right away was a train.”

On cross-examination he described the situation as follows:

* * There is a hole and she dropped down in there and I wasn’t going at a high enough speed to get over. It stopped there and the wheels spun on the snow. It formed ice and was slippery so I couldn’t get up over the hump.”

[25]*25Laverne said the snow was wet but that the driveway was not slippery. The light which he saw down the track became larger and larger. He left the truck, ran up to the house, 225 to 250 feet away, and told his brother to get a tractor to pull the truck off the track. He asked his wife to get a flashlight and see if she could stop the train. He then ran back to the truck and “kept wiggling the truck” and tried to get it out. He kept blinking the clearance lights, the stop light, and the taillights. He said the lights of the train were back two or three blocks, were shining bn the truck, “and it [the truck] was setting right in the tracks.” The train was coming closer. He waved to his brother not to come any farther with the tractor, and he himself jumped out of the truck and ran to the west. The impact pivoted the truck around into the ditch on the west side, about 10 or 20 feet north of the crossing. The left rear wheel was struck by the front of the locomotive.

On the west side of the track, there is a bank, ending about 500 feet to the south, its highest point of 7 feet being about 100 feet south of the crossing and 23 1/2 feet from the center of the track. At 400 feet south of the crossing it is 2 1/2 feet high. Laverne’s wife and his sister-in-law, each waving a flashlight, ran along the top of the bank toward the oncoming train. At the point where the locomotive passed them, which' was about 280 feet from the crossing, they had stepped down the bank a short distance. As they turned around, they saw the truck very plainly from the lights of the headlight of the engine, which were bright. The engine crew did not see the women or their flashlights.

According to the engineer, he reduced the speed of the train to about 20 miles an hour at the old switch, about 1,250 feet from the crossing, and was still slowing down when he saw the red light of the truck about 400 feet away. He then set the emergency brake. As he approached closer, he saw the truck, but not its headlights. When the engine struck, its speed was about 8 miles an hour. The fireman testified:

“We were slowing down, getting the train ready under control to stop at the town. We got near the old yard switch and I sees [26]*26this light, red light, on the back of this truck. It looked to me to be a taillight, the only light that I saw.”

He said that they were then about 300 or 400 feet from the crossing; that the engineer saw the light as soon as he did and put air in the emergency and left it in that position until the train stopped. He said that as the train approached the crossing he was looking straight ahead and saw no activity in the Kopischke yard. The track is perfectly straight for three miles to the south, with nothing to obstruct the view. Laverne first saw the train at that distance. From about 250 feet south of the crossing, there is a descending grade to the north. Up to that point, there is an ascending grade to the north.

The truck was equipped with two headlights, a taillight on its left-hand side, and four clearance lights on the box of the truck. In the position the truck was in, the headlights were shining somewhat toward the southwest and, because of the incline, reflected up. The truck was equipped with a gravel box, which extended out some distance from the rear of the frame.

As stated, it was snowing. The visibility by headlight from the engine cab was fair, according to the fireman, but very poor, according to the engineer, who testified that he could see about 400 feet ahead of the engine. The train, which was composed of 15 cars and a caboose, came to a stop with the seventh or tenth car on the crossing.

Because of the questions raised on this appeal, it appears necessary to detail the facts as we have done.

Defendant contends that on the evidence it conclusively appears as a matter of law that it was not guilty of negligence. Two charges of negligence -$vere submitted to the Jury: (1) Whether defendant was negligent in the maintenance of the crossing, and (2) whether it was negligent in keeping a proper lookout ahead. As to the first, defendant’s section foreman testified that he inspected the crossing every day when passing over it on a track motorcar, and sometimes when cleaning it off, and that it was not defective. We have already detailed plaintiff’s version of the condition of the [27]*27crossing. On, this conflicting testimony, a finding by the jury that the crossing was defective cannot be disturbed.

In considering plaintiff’s second claim of negligence, that defendant’s enginemen failed to keep a proper lookout ahead, we encounter more difficulty. It is undisputed that defendant’s track is straight for at least three miles to the south as it approaches this crossing. The truck was on the track during the whole time the train was traversing that distance. Under ordinary weather conditions, it is apparent that the truck could have been seen and its position observed by the enginemen for a long distance, a much greater distance than what would be required to stop the train to avoid a collision. This accident, however, happened after dark and while it was snowing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
40 N.W.2d 834, 230 Minn. 23, 1950 Minn. LEXIS 579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kopischke-v-chicago-st-paul-minneapolis-omaha-railway-co-minn-1950.