Louisville & N. R. v. Whisenant

58 So. 2d 908, 214 Miss. 421, 1952 Miss. LEXIS 485
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 26, 1952
Docket38344
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 58 So. 2d 908 (Louisville & N. R. v. Whisenant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville & N. R. v. Whisenant, 58 So. 2d 908, 214 Miss. 421, 1952 Miss. LEXIS 485 (Mich. 1952).

Opinions

[430]*430Holmes, J.

The appellant, appeals from an adverse jury verdict and judgment of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, awarding- to the appellees damages in the sum of $20,000 for the alleged wrongful injury and death of Wilbourn Houston Whisenant, a boy of the age of twelve years. Appellees are the father, mother, brother and sister of the decedent.

The tragedy resulting in the decedent’s injury and subsequent death occurred between 10 and 10:30 o’clock on the morning of August 24, 1950 at the Bayou Cosotte crossing- in Jackson County, where the appellant’s line of railroad crosses what is known as the Bayou Cosotte road. The decedent at the time was riding in an old Model A Ford sedan in company with Anthony Edward Ugas, a minor of the age of 18 years, and Robert Henry Linder, a minor of the age of 14 years. The record does not disclose the driver of the car but the declaration alleges and the answer does not specifically deny that the decedent was riding in the back seat of the car. As the car was proceeding over the crossing, traveling- in a northerly direction, it was struck by one of appellant’s eastbound trains, consisting- of an engine, tender and coach, and was practically demolished. Two of the occupants of the car were found dead near the track and appellees’ decedent was found gravely injured but still living- and he was rushed to the hospital where he died approximately seven hours later.

The declaration alleged a number of grounds of negligence on the part of appellant but the proof was mainly [431]*431directed to the contention of appellees that appellant was guilty of negligence which proximately caused or contributed to the injury and death of the decedent in that it caused its train in approaching the crossing to be operated at a rapid rate of speed without giving the statutory signals by causing the whistle to be continuously blown or the bell to be continuously rung for a distance of at least 300 yards from the crossing as provided by Section 7777 of the Mississippi Code of 1942. The appellant urges on this appeal that the evidence is insufficient to support this contention, and that the trial court erred in refusing its requested peremptory instruction, and in overruling its motion for a new trial upon the ground that the verdict is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence. We find no error in the court’s action in either instance. The testimony for the appellees showed that the road in question has a sharp curve in it before reaching the railroad track, and that the view of one driving a car along said road at said point is obstructed by trees and growth so as to prevent one from clearly seeing the railroad track or a train thereon. A substantial number of witnesses for the appellees testified that they did not hear the whistle blow or the bell ring, and yet they showed by their testimony that they were close enough to have heard the whistle or the bell if either had been sounded. At least two witnesses for the appellees testified that they were looking at the train as it approached the crossing’ and that the train was running at from 60 to 70 miles per hour, and that they heard neither whistle nor bell except for two short blasts of the whistle immediately prior to the collision. On the other hand, the train crew testified for the appellant that the statutory signals were given. The engineer denied that he sounded two short blasts of the whistle just before the collision, and denied that he was running at a rate of speed in excess of 45 miles per hour, and testified that as he approached the crossing he was sounding both the whistle and the bell. He further [432]*432testified that fie saw the car when it was about 300 feet from the crossing, traveling at 30 to 35 miles per hour, and that at that time the train was about 500 feet from the crossing and that he saw the face of the driver of the car and that the driver of the car looked at the train and reduced his speed to about 15 miles per hour and then shortly increased his speed and started across the crossing.

We think the evidence presented questions of fact for the determination of the jury as to whether the statutory warning signals were given and as to whether the failure to give such signals directly and proximately caused or contributed to the injury and death of the decedent, and as to whether the driver of the car saw the train and attempted to beat the train across the crossing. These factual issues were submitted to the jury by proper instructions and we think rightly so. It is argued by the appellant, however, that the engineer’s testimony that the driver of the car saw the train and reduced his speed and then shortly increased his speed and drove on the crossing is uncontradicted and should be accepted as establishing as true that the driver of the car saw the train and attempted to beat it across the crossing, and that this act of the driver was the sole proximate cause of the injury as was held in Thompson v. Mississippi Central Railroad Company, 175 Miss. 547, 166 So. 353. The engineers’ testimony, however, showed that he was about 500 feet from the crossing and traveling east at a rate of speed of from 40' to 45 miles per hour and that the driver of the car was about 300 feet from the crossing traveling north at a rate of speed of from 30 to 35 miles per hour, and we are of the opinion that it was for the jury to determine whether in this situation the engineer’s testimony that the driver of the car saw the train was merely a conclusion. It was likewise for the jury to determine the credibility of the engineer’s testimony to the effect that the driver of the car saw the train, and with full knowledge of its approach, drove upon the track [433]*433in its path contrary to human instincts of self-preservation.

On the issue as to whether the statutory signals were given, the appellant contends that the evidence on behalf of the appellees is negative testimony and, therefore, insufficient to overcome the positive testimony of appellant’s train crew. It appears from the record that the witnesses who testified in behalf of appellees that the statutory signals were not given were so situated that in the ordinary course of events they would have heard the signals if they had been sounded. This evidence was, therefore, sufficient to warrant the jury in finding that the signals were not given. "Testimony that a fact did not occur, given by a witness ‘ so situated that in the ordinary course of events he would have heard or seen the fact that it occurred, ’ is sufficient to warrant a jury in finding that the fact did not occur. ’ ’ Columbus & Greenville R. Co. v. Lee, 149 Miss. 543, 115 So. 782, 784.

We are also of the opinion that the evidence was sufficient to justify the court in submitting to the jury the question as to whether the failure of appellant to give the statutory warning signals proximately caused or contributed to the injury and death of the decedent. The jury might reasonably have concluded from all of the facts in the case that the warning signals were not given and that if they had been given they would have served to warn the driver of the car of the approaching train and thus avoided the collision at the crossing. In the case of Gulf & Ship Island R. R. Co. v. Simmons, 153 Miss. 327, 121 So.

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Louisville & N. R. v. Whisenant
58 So. 2d 908 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1952)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 So. 2d 908, 214 Miss. 421, 1952 Miss. LEXIS 485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-n-r-v-whisenant-miss-1952.