Little Rock Ry. & Electric Co. v. Billings

187 F. 960, 110 C.C.A. 80, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4266
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedApril 11, 1911
DocketNo. 3,439
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 187 F. 960 (Little Rock Ry. & Electric Co. v. Billings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Little Rock Ry. & Electric Co. v. Billings, 187 F. 960, 110 C.C.A. 80, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4266 (8th Cir. 1911).

Opinion

RINER, District Judge.

This is the second appearance of this case in this court. 173 Fed. 903, 98 C. C. A. 467. The action is one at law to recover damages for personal injuries. The defendant in error, hereafter called the plaintiff, was a lineman, and for some time prior to the date of the injury, of which he complains, had been in the employ of the Rock Island Railway Company in the state of Louisiana, assisting in the work of constructing a telegraph line. On the 23d of November, 1907, he returned to Little Rock, Ark., for the purpose of getting his pay. The pay checks had not been received from Chicago at the time he arrived, and he was, for that reason, delayed a day in Little Rock. About 5 o’clock in the afternoon, in company with a man named Oldfather, his foreman in telegraph line work, and another man by the name of Thompson, he visited a saloon, where they had several drinks, remaining there until about 7 o’clock, when they went [962]*962out to supper. After supper they returned to the saloon, and again commenced drinking, remaining there, as the record shows, until about dl- ora 11:30 o’.clock that night, when Oldfather and the plaintiff left the saloon and proceeded down the street to the corner of-Main and Markham streets, w-here they parted, Oldfather returning to the supply room at the Rock Island depot. About 1:30 o’clock on the following morning, November 24th, the plaintiff Was walking east along the street car track of the plaintiff in error, hereafter called the defendant, on Markham street, when he was struck by an electric car running west, knocked down, and his left leg was so crushed that amputation became necessary.

■ At the,'point where the plaintiff was injured there was a double track, and the street was at the time being paved with brick. The paving had been completed between the -curb and the south rail of the south' track; and between the north rail of the south track and the south rail of the north track, and between the curb and the north rail of the.north track. The paving between the rails had not been finished, and red lights had been placed at different places along that ...part of,the street .where the paving had not been completed, as a warning to travelers thereon of'the unsafe condition of the street., The car was equipped with an electric headlight, burning brightly, and the evidence shows it was being operated at a speed of from eight to ten ■miles an hour. That the plaintiff was intoxicated, although not to an extent -to be • discernible in his walk, is clearly established; but, having voluntarily brought on this condition, he is not excused in the doing of an act which would have constituted negligence if he had been sober. At the former hearing of this case in this court the court said :

“Tile undisputed evidence shows plaintiff was intoxicated when the injury occurred, to. him,” and “this state of intoxication was brought by plaintiff on himself by his voluntary act. He was. therefore,.chargeable with the result of his acts, deemed, by the law to constitute contributory negligence, in the same degree and to the same extent as though he had been aiid remained duly sober. McKillop v. Duluth St. Ry. Co., 53 Minn. 532, 55 N. W. 739; Rollestone v. T. Cassirer & Co., 3 Ga. App. 161, 59 S. E. 442; Keeshan v Elgin Traction Co., 229 Ill. 533, 82 N. E. 360; Railway v. Wilkerson, 46 Ark. 513. Therefore, in so "far as plaintiff alone is concerned, his conduct in .coming and remaining on the track of defendant at the time, in the maimer, and at the place he did must he viewed in the same light as though he had ■not intoxicated himself, * * * and his pleading and proof of voluntary intoxication in this case will not avail to excuse him in the doing of any act which Would have constituted negligence on his part, had he remained sober. Viewed in this light, the act of plaintiff in coining on the track of the defendant in front of an approaching ear, burning a bright electric headlight, the view of which was entirely unobstructed, and which he saw, or could have seen, had he looked, and his remaining on the track, walking toward the car, until he was struck and injured, undeniably constitutes such gross contributory negligence on the part of plaintiff as will bar a recovery in this case, unless there is in the case ground for the application of the qualification of the rule of contributory negligence sometimes termed the doctrine of ‘last clear chance,’ ” — citing Inland & Seaboard Coasting Co. v. Tolson, 139 U. S. 551, 11 Sup. Ct. 653, 35 L. Ed. 270, and other cases.

[1] The qualification of the rule that contributory negligence on the •part of the plaintiff will bar a recovery is stated by Judge Adams in [963]*963the case of St. Louis & S. F. R. Co. v. Summers et al., 173 Fed. 358, 97 C. C. A. 328, as follows:

"The rule is well settled that, notwithstanding such contributory negligence of a traveler in crossing a railroad track as precludes recovery for the primary negligence of the railroad company in operating its train so as to bring about a collision with him, yet another and different cause of action arises in favor of the traveler, if for any reason he is exposed to imminent peril and. danger, and the railroad, company, after actually discovering that condition, could by the exercise of ordinary care have stopped its train, or otherwise have avoided injuring him. and failed to do so. Chunn v. City & Suburban Railway, 207 U. S. 303, 28 Sup. Ct. 63, 52 L. Ed. 219; Denver City Tramway Co. v. Cobb, 164 Fed. 41, 90 C. C. A. 459. But in tlie application of this rule care must be taken to avoid, undermining the rule of contributory negligence. Snell negligence of tlie traveler in law fully exonerates the railroad company from the consequences of its original negligence, and some new and subsequent act of negligence must arise to create a cause of action; and this now or secondary act must be established by proof, unaided by the former acts, which have been excused by the traveler's contributory negligeuee. Let us, therefore, inquire whether the servants of the railroad company had actual knowledge of tlie peril of the decedent, and whether with that knowledge they exercised reasonable care to avoid injuring him.'’

The same rule was announced by Judge Hook in Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Nelson, 173 Fed. 915, 97 C. C. A. 331.

[2] The plaintiff testified that he did not remember anything that occurred after he parted with Oldfather, which lie thought was about 10 o’clock, hut which Oldfather testified was between 11 and 11 :3() o’clock, until lie woke up in the hospital the following- morning.

F. A. Jones, a witness for the plaintiff, testified that lie was a passenger on the street car; that when the car stopped, at the time the plaintiff was injured, he, with others, got out of the car and went around to tl,ie side, where they were taking the plaintiff out from under the car, and in response to the question, “State to the jury if anything was said there by the motornian,” he answered:

“All I remember of him saying was he saw the parly on the track, but thought he would get out of the way. lie thought he. was drunk. I think he made that remark. He said he thought he would get out of the way. That's what 1 heard him say.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
187 F. 960, 110 C.C.A. 80, 1911 U.S. App. LEXIS 4266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/little-rock-ry-electric-co-v-billings-ca8-1911.