Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Pence

55 N.E. 1036, 24 Ind. App. 12, 1900 Ind. App. LEXIS 169
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 1900
DocketNo. 2,914
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 55 N.E. 1036 (Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Pence) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Pence, 55 N.E. 1036, 24 Ind. App. 12, 1900 Ind. App. LEXIS 169 (Ind. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

This action was for injury to appellee’s person, and the wagon in which he was riding, caused by a collision with appellant’s locomotive and train of cars at a crossing of a public highway in the city of Erankfort, Indiana. A trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of appellee for $800.

The amended complaint consisted of six paragraphs. On entering upon the trial, appellee dismissed as to the third and fourth. Specifications in the assignment of errors from one to ten, inclusive, question the sufficiency of each paragraph, but the sufficiency of the fifth and sixth only is discussed. As to the first and second, the alleged error, under the rule, is therefore waived.

It is insisted by appellant’s counsel that the “demurrer should have been sustained, for the reason that it is not shown in these paragraphs that the act of negligence complained of was the proximate cause of the injury. The negligence complained of in these paragraphs was the violation of an ordinance of the city of Erankfort'regulating the speed of trains running through that city.” In each of the four paragraphs it is, in substance, alleged that the appellant owned and operated a line of railroad extending through Clinton county, and the city of Erankfort, over which the appellant operated its trains; that the railroad [14]*14crosses one of the public thoroughfares in the city of Prank-fort, known as East street; that on the 22nd of October, 1897, as the appellee was crossing appellant’s railroad track at the intersection of East street, exercising due care and caution to avoid any injury, the appellant, by itself, agents, servants, and employes, carelessly and negligently ran its locomotive engine and train of cars against the appellee’s wagon with such violence that the appellee was permanently injured thereby, showing the character of the injuries and the damages sustained thereby, with the further allegation that the injury was caused without any fault or negligence of the appellee. In addition to the foregoing facts it is averred in the fifth and sixth paragraphs that there was at the date of the accident, in force, an ordinance passed by the common council of the city of Erankfort, November 27, 1889, regulating the speed of trains within the corporate limits of the city, and making it unlawful for any railroad train to be run through the city at a higher rate of speed than four miles an hour, followed by the allegation that the train was being run at a higher rate of speed than that permitted by the ordinance..

To quote the concluding part of the fifth paragraph, which does not materially differ from that of the sixth, it is alleged: “That the defendant did then and there in violation of said ordinance, as aforesaid, by itself, agents, servants, and employes carelessly and negligently run its locomotive engine and ears against plaintiff’s -wagon with great force and violence, by which said wagon in which the said plaintiff was situated was thrown from said highway and said plaintiff -was thrown against a telegraph pole with great forcé, and was bruised, wounded, and permanently injured thereby; and that he also sustained from such accident a great mental and physical shock, pain, arid mental anguish, from all of which injuries he has not yet recovered, and may never recover, — all of which was without any fault [15]*15or negligence on the part of the plaintiff. That by reason of the premises plaintiff has been damaged in the sum of $1,999, for which he demands judgment, and all proper relief.” This sufficiently avers that the negligent running of the train in violation of the ordinance caused the injury for which appellee sued, and that it was by reason of such negligence that he was damaged. It is clearly sufficient to withstand a demurrer under Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Spilker, 134 Ind. 380; but, see, also, Ohio, etc., R. Co. v. Engrer, 4 Ind. App. 261; Indianapolis, etc., R. Co. v. Kelley, 23 Ind. 133; Cincinnati, etc., R. Co. v. Chester, 57 Ind. 297; Cleveland, etc., R. Co. v. Wynant, 100 Ind. 160; Louisville, etc., R. Co. v. Jones, 108 Ind. 551.

It is next contended by counsel for appellant that the court erred in overruling its motion for a new trial, “because the evidence shows that appellee was guilty of contributory negligence.” The consideration of this question necessitates an examination of the evidence. The record shows that the Lake Erie & Western Railroad runs through the city of Erankfort in a general easterly and westerly direction, and parallel to and on the north side thereof runs the track of the Toledo, St. Louis & Kansas Oity Railroad, there being but about ten feet between the two tracks. In the eastern part of the city of Erankfort these tracks are crossed at right angles by Olay street, running north and south. Olay street is fifty feet in width, graded and graveled, and laid with sidewalks on each side. The crossing of this street with the railroad is planked the entire width of the street from lot line to lot line, and the entire width of the two railroads, including the space between. One hundred and t'hirty-two feet south of the center of the Lake Erie & Western Railroad track, Olay street is crossed diagonally by Washington avenue, running in a southwesterly and northeasterly direction, and crossing the tracks of these rail[16]*16roads about 260 feet east of the crossing of the railroads and Clay street. The train that caused the injury approached the Clay street crossing from the east, and the appellee approached the said crossing from the south on Clay street. On the east side of Clay street, between the crossings of the railroads and Washington avenue with said street, the view of a traveler is obstructed by a dwelling and a small outhouse. These buildings are along and immediately adjoining Clay street. The south side of the dwelling is forty feet north of the intersection of Clay street and Washington avenue, and the north side of said building is twenty-two feet and eight inches from the south rail of the appellant’s track. This building is a story and a half high. Immediately north of the house, and about three feet from it, is a small outhouse, about four and one-half feet square and about seven feet high, and stands fifteen and one-half feet south of the south rail of the track. One going northeast on Washington avenue at the crossing of said avenue and Clay street has a plain view of the appellant’s track where the same crosses Washington avenue about 280 feet northeast of the said point of observation. And as one goes north on Olay street from its intersection with Washington avenue for a distance of thirty-five or forty feet, or until the view is obstructed by the dwelling-house on the east side of Clay street, looking east by the angle thus formed, he can see along the Lake Erie & Western Railroad track east of the Washington avenue crossing to the center of East street, which point is a distance of 640 feet east of Clay street crossing with the railroad. One approaching the railroad from the south on Clay street, when within sixteen feet of the track, would have a full view of the railroad track looking east for a distance of 326 feet, with a partial view for a distance of 556 feet. One within ten feet of the track, looking east, would have a full view thereof for a distance of 1,200 feet. On the 22nd of October, 1897, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the appellee [17]*17was driving east on Washington avenue, and, when he reached the crossing of Washington avenue and Clay street, turned north into Clay street.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 N.E. 1036, 24 Ind. App. 12, 1900 Ind. App. LEXIS 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-erie-western-railway-co-v-pence-indctapp-1900.