Maness v. Illinois Central Railroad Company

271 So. 2d 418, 61 A.L.R. 3d 1, 1972 Miss. LEXIS 1277
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 18, 1972
Docket46922
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 271 So. 2d 418 (Maness v. Illinois Central Railroad Company) 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
Maness v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, 271 So. 2d 418, 61 A.L.R. 3d 1, 1972 Miss. LEXIS 1277 (Mich. 1972).

Opinion

271 So.2d 418 (1972)

James MANESS et al.
v.
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY et al.

No. 46922.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

December 18, 1972.
Rehearing Denied January 15, 1973.

*420 Prewitt & Braddock, Vicksburg, for appellants.

Dent, Ward, Martin & Terry, Vicksburg, Daniel, Coker, Horton, Bell & Dukes, Jackson, for appellees.

BROOM, Justice:

This is an appeal from the Circuit Court of Warren County, Mississippi. The suit was brought by the appellant, James Maness, father of Calvin Maness, deceased, under Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated section 1453 (Supp. 1971) for the alleged wrongful death of the said deceased. Defendants to the suit were Illinois Central Railroad Company, Jack's Cookie Corporation, and Rayfield A. Luccasen, all three of whom are appellees. Consolidated and tried along with said suit was the suit of Paul Tice as plaintiff, one of appellants herein, for property damages to his truck which was driven by Calvin Maness. In the lower court a directed verdict was given in favor of Illinois Central Railroad Company, appellee. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the other two appellees, Jack's Cookie Corporation and Rayfield A. Lucassen. Now James Maness and Paul Tice appeal to this Court.

On October 2, 1969, late in the afternoon, before dark, Calvin Maness was killed in the accident in question. The accident occurred on U.S. Highway 61 in Issaquena County, approximately one-fourth mile south of the town of Valley Park, Mississippi. The highway and the railroad are approximately parallel and run in a generally north and south direction, and are adjacent to each other. Going north from the area of a trestle about a mile south of Valley Park, the distance separating the highway and railroad gradually diminishes. Grass approximately six to ten inches tall grows along the highway and railroad right-of-way. Ralph Frisby, a witness, resides in a house situated approximately one-fourth mile south of Valley Park and six hundred to seven hundred feet west of the railroad.

Several witnesses testified that they saw smoke and fire near the railroad trestle during the early part of the afternoon. A highway patrolman, Joe Braun, testified that at about 7:00 o'clock p.m. he saw where the fire had burned on the railroad right-of-way, and it was his opinion that the fire had started within thirty feet of the trestle and upon the railroad right-of-way. No eyewitness stated with certainty as to whether or not the fire originated on the railroad property. No one actually saw the fire originate; no one testified as to who or what ignited or caused the fire.

William Duchesne testified that he returned in the early afternoon to work in a field west of the railroad. While en route, he observed a truck which he said was that of the appellee, Illinois Central Railroad Company. Said truck passed him and parked at the southeast corner of the field where he had been working. Duchesne stated that he observed the fire on the railroad right-of-way subsequent to the parking of the railroad truck. He did not recognize or identify anyone in or on the truck.

Apparently the fire progressively went in a northerly direction from the general area of the trestle to a point near to where the fatal highway accident occurred. A southwesterly wind blew the smoke from the railroad right-of-way across the adjacent highway, obscuring the vision of travelers upon the highway. Apparently the wind velocity and direction were not constant so that at intervals visibility was changing from zero to normal in daylight. Sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 o'clock p.m. a Goodyear tire truck was proceeding *421 through the smoke on the highway when it was struck from the rear by the truck of the appellee, Jack's Cookie Corporation, being operated by another appellee, Rayfield A. Luccasen. According to the witness Frisby the cookie truck was traveling at approximately forty-five to fifty miles per hour when it struck the Goodyear tire truck, which in the impact was knocked approximately a hundred to a hundred and fifty feet off and to the west of the highway. The cookie truck remained upon said U.S. Highway 61, blocking the north and southbound lanes of traffic.

While the cookie truck remained on the highway, it was struck from the rear by a pickup truck being driven by Wendell Johnson who then moved his pickup, which was not disabled, off the highway, leaving the cookie truck still there. In this situation Calvin Maness came along the scene driving a bean truck owned by appellant Paul Tice. After the deceased had proceeded some fifty to seventy-five feet into the area enveloped by smoke, said bean truck collided with the cookie truck, killing the said Calvin Maness.

The testimony indicates that the appellee Luccasen, driver of the cookie truck, was not able to see after he entered the smoke on the highway. He did not apply his brakes nor did he turn on his lights. He did take his foot off the accelerator and thereby reduce his speed prior to entering the smoke. During the brief time, approximately five to ten minutes, from the moment the cookie truck struck the Goodyear truck until the fatal collision, the appellee Luccasen put out no flares nor warning signals and made no attempt to remove his truck from the highway. He stated that after the collision he was "shocked" and thought he was trapped inside the truck for a time.

When the plaintiffs rested their case, the court entered a directed verdict for the appellee, Illinois Central Railroad Company, whose motion for such verdict charged in effect that the appellants (plaintiffs) had failed to show that the fire in question was started by any agent or employee of the railroad or that the railroad had knowledge that the fire was on the railroad right-of-way prior to the accident for sufficient time to have extinguished it. After the railroad made its motion for a directed verdict, appellants (before the court ruled on said motion) applied for leave to reopen their case for the purpose of introducing into evidence interrogatories propounded by plaintiffs to the railroad, and no doubt intended to include the written answers of the railroad previously filed in response thereto. The motion literally specified only the "interrogatories." The lower court refused to permit the appellants to reopen, and then granted the railroad a directed verdict.

The first assignment of error made by appellants is that the court erred in directing a verdict for the railroad when the appellants rested. Appellants contend that there was in the record ample testimony requiring that a jury should pass on whether or not the railroad was guilty of negligence either in starting the fire by act of its agents or employees, or, whether or not the fire was existing on the railroad right-of-way for sufficient time for the railroad to be charged with the duty of extinguishing the fire before the accident.

We find no merit in this assignment. No witness testified that any employee or agent of the railroad set the fire. Also, there is no substantial or credible evidence that any employee or agent of the railroad had knowledge of said fire for a sufficient period of time to be chargeable, in the exercise of reasonable care, with the duty of extinguishing the fire before the accident occurred.

This Court in a recent fire case, Gulf Oil Corporation v. Turner, 235 So.2d 464 (Miss. 1970), speaking through Gillespie, P.J., held that in determining whether a party is entitled to a directed verdict the court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the party in whose favor *422 the jury returned the verdict.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
271 So. 2d 418, 61 A.L.R. 3d 1, 1972 Miss. LEXIS 1277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maness-v-illinois-central-railroad-company-miss-1972.