Leavitt v. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad

31 N.E. 860, 5 Ind. App. 513, 1892 Ind. App. LEXIS 269
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 1, 1892
DocketNo. 578
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 31 N.E. 860 (Leavitt v. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad) 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
Leavitt v. Terre Haute & Indianapolis Railroad, 31 N.E. 860, 5 Ind. App. 513, 1892 Ind. App. LEXIS 269 (Ind. Ct. App. 1892).

Opinions

New, J.

This is an action for damages. The appellant filed his complaint in the court below alleging, in substance, [514]*514that in May, 1890,.the appellee was, and still is, running,, operating and controlling a railroad from Terre Haute to Indianapolis, which road runs through the city of Brazil in Clay county, Indiana; that said road passes through said city east and west, near the center of the city, and along and over certain streets and" crossings of the same ; that Depot and Meridian streets connect just east of the defendant’s depot and cross said railroad tracks of the appellee; that immediately south of the main track said defendants have constructed a switch over and upon said street crossing of said Depot and Meridian streets; that many of the citizens and visitors of said city have to and do daily cross over said main track and switch to and from the south portion of said city; that on said day the appellant while in his buggy drawn by a good and gentle horse, was driving over and across said railroad crossing and said railroad track and switch, at the time using due care and caution; that at the time there was an engine of said appellee west of said crossing and one east of the crossing on the main track moving east at the time he entered upon the crossing, some distance from him; that he was led to suppose said engine would continue its course east and thereupon drove upon said crossing, said engine having nothing but the tender attached to it, and being in the control of one of the employees of the appellee, who so carelessly and negligently ran and operated said engine, at the time paying no attention or regard to persons who had the right at the time to pass over said crossing, but at the time appellant entered upon the crossing said engineer reversed said engine and immediately started west, in the direction of the crossing at a rapid rate of speed, when he could have seen the position appellant was in, had he been looking, as was his duty to do, giving appellant at the time no warning whatever by either ringing the bell or sounding the whistle; that said engine was so run in such careless and negligent manner as to strike appellant’s buggy and horse attached thereto,and with such force [515]*515as to knock said buggy and horse upon the east end of the platform of said appellee’s depot, breaking and tearing said buggy to pieces and greatly injuring said horse; that had said engineer, who was then an employee of said appellee, been exercising reasonable care and caution, he could have stopped said engine before it struck said buggy and horse; that at the time, as alleged, there was nothing attached to the engine except the tender, which struck the buggy and horse; that at the point where said switch and main track pass over said street crossing it is known to be, by the appellee, dangerous to travellers in crossing said track.

Plaintiff says that said injury was caused by the carelessness and negligence of said appellee’s employees, and without any fault or negligence on his part his buggy was broken to pieces and rendered worthless, and his horse injured and damaged in the sum of fifty dollars, all to his damage in the sum of two hundred dollars, for which he demands judgment and all proper relief.

Appellees filed a motion to make the complaint more specific, and also demurred to the complaint for want of facts, both of which the court overruled and appellee excepted, but as the appellee does not assign cross-errors no question is presented on said rulings.

The appellee filed an answer of general denial, and. upon issue thus joined the cause was submitted to a jury for, trial. After the appellant had introduced his evidence and rested, the appellee demurred to the evidence on the ground that the same was not sufficient to sustain appellant’s action, in which appellant joined.

The court sustained the demurrer and rendered judgment in favor of the appellee, to which ruling of the court the appellant, at the proper time, excepted.

The sustaining of the demurrer to the evidence and rendering judgment for the appellee are the only errors assigned.

The theory of the complaint is that while the appellant was, with ordinary care and caution, attempting to cross the [516]*516track of said appellee, upon a public crossing, his buggy and horse were damaged on account of the careless and negligent management of appellee’s engine while in the control and being operated by the engineer, an employee of said company.

It was agreed upon the trial that the defendant is the Terre Haute and Indianapolis Eailroad Company, and that its track runs east and west through the city of Brazil, Indiana. The evidence shows that in the month of May, 1890, the appellant, while in his buggy driving a four-year-old horse that he had owned about ten days, drove along Depot street in the town of Brazil from the south to and across the track of appellee’s railroad ; that at said crossing there are two tracks, the main line and a switch; that he was perfectly familiar with said crossing, living but a short distance away, and often transacting business with said railroad company, causing him to be about its switch at said crossing; that he drove along said public street to the crossing mentioned, when he discovered two engines on said crossing, one going west and the other east; that he waited until said engines had cleared the crossing; that the engine going east was pushing some cars, and he supposed said engine going east would continue in that direction far enough to enable him to drive over said crossing in safety; that he drove, over said crossing, reaching a point where the hind wheels of his buggy were about five or six feet north of the track, when said engine started to back in a western direction toward him; that said engine was about one hundred and fifty feet from him when it started back; that about the time said engine began backing, and after he had passed over the crossing to a point where the hind wheels of his buggy were five or six feet north of the track, a big heavy puff of smoke from the engine settled down in front of his horse and frightened it. The horse stopped, refused to go forward, and commenced to run back; that he could not get his horse to go, but it continued to back until the hind [517]*517wheels of the buggy were on the track in front of the tender attached to said engine; that said tender crushed down said wheels, causing his buggy and horse to be thrown around against the engine, where the buggy was caught by some part of the same and dragged along and upon the depot platform for about thirty feet, totally destroying his buggy and greatly damaging his horse.

Appellant further says that if it had not been for the cloud of smoke frightening his horse causing him to stop and back his buggy on the track in front of the tender the injury would not have occurred.

He says those in control “ seemed to be coaling the engine and the big clouds of smoke seemed to settle down in front of his horse”; that he waved and hallooed to the engineer to stop after he saw he could not control his horse, and that it was backing his buggy on the track in front of the tender, but that the- engineer did not seem to see or hear him ; that he thinks neither the engineer nor fireman saw him or the danger his property was in until after the buggy had been crushed down by the tender, and his horse came-around against the engine, when the engineer did reverse the engine. The evidence shows that the engine was backing slowly, and in the usual way.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
31 N.E. 860, 5 Ind. App. 513, 1892 Ind. App. LEXIS 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leavitt-v-terre-haute-indianapolis-railroad-indctapp-1892.