Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway Co. v. Head

80 Ind. 117
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1881
DocketNo. 8819
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 80 Ind. 117 (Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway Co. v. Head) 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
Louisville, New Albany & Chicago Railway Co. v. Head, 80 Ind. 117 (Ind. 1881).

Opinion

Bicknell, C. C.

— The appellee was an infant; he brought this suit by his next friend, against the appellant, to recover damages for the appellant’s negligence.

On the day ofjthe Presidential election, in 1876, the appellee and other boys were about the polls in the town of Mitchell ; it was between four and five o’clock in the afternoon; at that place the appellant’s road, running north and south, crosses Main street in the town of Mitchell, a street eighty feet wide [118]*118running east and west. A switch, running southeasterly to a freight house, also crosses Main street close to the main track of appellant’s road, and the target of that switch, where the switch begins, is fifty or sixty feet north of the north line of Main street. An engine and some freight ears were standing on the main track north of and close to the beginning of the switch; the engine was at the north end of the cars. In Main street, alongside of the track, the appellants had a “ guard rail; ” the appellee, nine years old, undertook to cross the railway in' Main street, going northeasterly, and got his foot caught in the guard rail in Main street, about twenty feet south of the north line of the street. At that time, as the evidence tends to show, there was a switchman at the target, and a brakeman on the top of the cars, and when the boy found he was caught, he cried for help, and immediately thereafter the train of cars began to back southward toward the boy, at the usual speed of a switching train.

The evidence further tends to show that several persons immediately cried out to the man at the switch, and gave signals to the brakeman on the top of the cars, by waving their hands and shouting, and that some of them ran to the boy to help him, but could not get him loose; and that the train came on and was not stopped until it had reached the boy, and cut his foot off, the bystanders holding his body out of the way.

The complaint was in two paragraphs. A demurrer to the first was sustained, and a demurrer to the second was overruled.

The answer was the general denial. The issue was tried by a jury, who failed to agree. Afterwards the appellants moved to dismiss the cause on account of the insolvency of the appellee’s next friend, and this motion was overruled. The issue was again tried by another jury, who failed to agree. The issue was again tried by a third jury, to whom interrogatories were propounded by both parties, and submitted by the court, and they returned a verdict for the plaintiff, with $1,000 damages. They returned, also, the interrogatories and their answers thereto, as follows:

[119]*119“ First. Was there any effort made by those in charge of the train to stop the same until it was in the act of running over the foot of the plaintiff ? Answer. No.
“Second. Had the persons in charge of the train kept a proper lookout for persons or objects upon the track, and for danger ahead, would they have discovered the plaintiff and known his situation in time to stop their train before it reached or injured the plaintiff ? Answer. Yes.
“Third. Was the plaintiff’s foot fastened between the rails of defendant’s road, and so firmly held that he could not extricate the same, and while in this condition was he run upou and injured by said train ? Answer. Yes.
“ Fourtli. Did those in charge of the train keep a reasonably careful watch ahead for danger Avhile approaching the place where plaintiff was injured? Answer. No.
“ Sixth. Were there such signals and alarms given by plaintiff, or by plaintiff and others, as Avould reasonably have advised and made knOAvn to those in charge of the defendant’s train, the condition of the plaintiff? AnsAver. Yes.”

The foregoing were the plaintiff’s interrogatories.

The defendant’s interrogatories were as follows:

“1. Was the defendant’s train, by which plaintiff was injured, stopped as soon as could reasonably be done after defendant’s train hands were notified or had knowledge that the plaintiff was fastened on the track ? AnsAver. Yes.
“ 2. When the plaintiff was injured, Avas the defendant guilty of any negligence which caused the injury complained of? Answer. Yes.
“3. Were the defendants signalled to stop the train so that those in charge of the train had knowledge of the same? Answer. No.
“3J. Were signals given to those in charge of the train, under such circumstances that they ought reasonably to have known that there was danger ahead. Answer. Yes.
“4. Did not the train, as soon as its hands were notified [120]*120that there was a person on the track, immediately stop?' Answer. No.
“5. Do you find that the plaintiff contributed to the injury he received, by any negligent or careless conduct or act on his part? Answer. No.
“ 6. Could the train have been stopped and the injury avoided if the engineer had been notified of the danger when the notice was first given by the plaintiff, or any other person,, of his foot being fastened ? Answer. Yes.
7. Did the plaintiff follow the ordinary track for foot passengers to cross defendant’s track at the time and place where said injury was sustained? Answer. No.”

The appellant filed a motion for judgment in her favor on the answers of the jury to the interrogatories, which motion was overruled; the appellant’s motion for a new trial was overruled; and her motion in arrest of judgment was also overruled ; judgment was rendered on the verdict. This appeal was taken, and the following is the assignment of errors:

1. The court erred in overruling the demurrer to the second paragraph of the complaint.

2. The court erred in refusing to dismiss said cause on account of the insolvency of James A. Head, the next friend of the plaintiff.

3. The court erred in rejecting certain evidence in cross examination of William F. Head.

4. The court erred in ruling out certain evidence of John Head.

5. The court erred in refusing to give judgment for defendant on the special findings of the jury.

6. The court erred in overruling the motion for a new trial.

7. The court erred in overruling defendant’s motion in arrest of judgment.

The second error assigned presents no question for consideration, because the matter therein referred to is not shown by any bill of exceptions.

The third and fourth errors assigned present matters eon[121]*121stituting cause for a new trial, but which, when assigned as-error, present no question for decision. Edwards v. Powell,. 74 Ind. 294.

The first and seventh errors assigned present the question, Is the second paragraph of the complaint sufficient? The complaint states that the appellant’s railroad crosses Main street, a public street and highway in the town of Mitchell,, Indiana; that in said street the appellant had a guard rail,, leaving a space of two and one-half to four inches between the rails;

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
80 Ind. 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-new-albany-chicago-railway-co-v-head-ind-1881.