Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. McIntosh

38 N.E. 476, 140 Ind. 261, 1894 Ind. LEXIS 105
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 1, 1894
DocketNo. 16,816
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 38 N.E. 476 (Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. McIntosh) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. McIntosh, 38 N.E. 476, 140 Ind. 261, 1894 Ind. LEXIS 105 (Ind. 1894).

Opinion

Howard, J.

— This action was brought by the appellee to recover damages for the death of his intestate at a railway crossing over a public highway. The accident was caused, as alleged, by the negligent construction of the crossing and by the negligent running of appellant’s train.

The jury returned a general verdict for the appellee, and also answers to interrogatories.

Of the errors assigned but one is discussed in the briefs of counsel, the overruling of appellant’s motion for a new trial.

Fault is first found with the instructions of the court. The second instruction requested by the appellee, and given by the court, was as follows:

“This case presents three questions of fact, amongst others, for the consideration of the jury. 1st. Was the death of Frances Anthony caused by injuries received by her on the 5th day of August, 1891, and produced by a locomotive and cars of the defendant coming in collision with the vehicle in which decedent was riding on said day, as alleged in the complaint? 2d. Were such injuries to said decedent produced by the negligence of the [264]*264defendant, its servants or its employes? 3d. Did the negligence of said deceased woman contribute to such injuries and death?”

Counsel say this instruction leaves it to the jury to determine the question of law as to what is alleged in the complaint; that it was the duty of the court to construe the complaint, and to tell the jury what was alleged.

We think the court in this instruction distinctly informs the jury what the facts are, “ as alleged in the complaint.” The instruction is an exact copy, with change of names and dates, of instruction number 4, as given by the court in the Indianapolis, etc., R. R. Co. v. Stout, Admr., 53 Ind. 143, which was approved by this court.

Similar criticism is made by counsel of instruction number 5, as requested by appellee, and given by the court. Further objection is made to the following clause of this instruction: “You will inquire whether such injuries were produced by the negligence of the defendant, its agents, servants or employes.”

Counsel gravely suggest that this requires the jury to say whether the injuries were caused “by the negligence of'the defendant, or by its agents or servants or employes.”

We do not think the words interpolated by counsel were suggested to the mind of the jury by the language of the court. The company could act only by its officers, agents, servants or employes. The instruction evidently, and in the plainest language, refers to such instrumentalities, and not to independent action of agents and others, for which the company would not be liable. Words in an instruction to a jury are to be taken in their plain and usual meaning. Verbal niceties and refined grammatical distinctions are not to be [265]*265resorted, to in such, cases, provided the meaning of the language used is plain to a common intent.

The fourth instruction requested by the appellee, and given by the court, was as follows:

"If you find from the evidence that Frances Anthony was killed by the negligence of the defendant in constructing or maintaining the crossing of the highway described in the complaint, or by reason of obstructions wrongfully placed or maintained in such highway by defendant, or by the negligence of the defendant’s servants in the management of said train, and that the deceased was not guilty of negligence on her part contributing to the injury, and that her death was .caused by the injury, and if you find the other material allegations of the complaint proven, then your verdict should be for the plaintiff.”

Much fault is found with this instruction. It is, however, almost identical with instruction No. 6 given in Indianapolis, etc., R. R. Co. v. Stout, Admr., supra, to which no objection was made.

In objecting to the instruction before us, it is first said that "The complaint does not allege that the plaintiff’s intestate was killed by the defendant’s negligence in the construction of said crossing. On the contrary, it shows that the crossing was constructed many years before (she was killed, and that she was not killed by its construction.”

We think counsel are mistaken in this. The complaint, in fact, sets out very fully and in detail various negligent acts of appellant in constructing and maintaining the crossing.

It is alleged, amongst other things, "That said highway was not crossed at right angles by defendant’s said railroad track at said place, but that defendant’s said track had wrongfully, negligently and unlawfully been [266]*266constructed, and was, by defendant, at all times herein named, unlawfully, wrongfully and negligently maintained and kept, in and along said highway, for a distance of two hundred and fifty feet.”

The particulars of such obstruction and negligent construction and maintenance of the crossing are set out at great length and in detail: That a ditch over the crossing, from four to six feet deep, and four feet wide, was maintained; that the earth from said ditch was banked up on the highway, thereby rendering the highway impassable, except for a space of about ten feet, which was covered with planks, the obstruction extending east and west of the railroad track a distance of twenty feet; that a board fence was maintained by appellant in said highway, one hundred and fifty feet long, and extending from the east line of the highway to the center thereof, appellant using for its own purposes all of the highway east of the fence, and thus wrongfully «reducing the width of, the highway from forty to twenty feet, and not leaving room for the public to pass in safety; that the appellant had suffered the road bed of the highway and the traveled part thereof to be washed away into said ditch, thus making the roadway dangerous and preventing vehicles from being turned away from the track and escaping from an approaching train after the same could be discovered; that appellant had permitted said washout to remain in said road bed for a long time prior to the accident, with full knowledge of its dangerous condition; that appellant had planted a post in said highway fifteen feet west of the track, thereby preventing vehicles approaching the track from being turned therefrom in time to avoid an approaching train after it could be observed in coming from the north, the point from which appellee traveled; the appellant had unlawfully and negligently failed to restore said highway to its for[267]

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Bluebook (online)
38 N.E. 476, 140 Ind. 261, 1894 Ind. LEXIS 105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-shore-michigan-southern-railway-co-v-mcintosh-ind-1894.