McDaniels v. Terminal Railroad Ass'n

23 N.E.2d 785, 302 Ill. App. 332, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 524
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 8, 1939
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 23 N.E.2d 785 (McDaniels v. Terminal Railroad Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McDaniels v. Terminal Railroad Ass'n, 23 N.E.2d 785, 302 Ill. App. 332, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 524 (Ill. Ct. App. 1939).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Culbertson

delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellee, Clarence McDaniels (hereinafter called plaintiff), recovered judgment in the circuit court of Madison county in the sum of $20,000, from which judgment appellant, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (hereinafter called defendant) appeals to this court.

Plaintiff’s action was based upon personal injuries sustained by plaintiff on February 28, 1936 as the result of his being struck and injured by a large wooden girder which was thrown or dropped from, defendant’s overhead bridge by employees of the defendant. Plaintiff testified that, at that time, he was walking along a cinder path on the east side of the tracks of the Wabash Bailroad on the Wabash Bailroad right of way, over which the bridge of the defendant was maintained pursuant to contract between the defendant company and the Wabash Bailroad Company.

Plaintiff’s complaint charged that plaintiff was walking along a certain cinder path or roadway on the east side of the Wabash Bailroad Company track, which was much used by employees of “other railroad companies, and by pedestrians and vehicles of the general public, and that said use of said cinder path or roadway was well known to Defendant and its Agents. ’ ’ It was alleged in such complaint that the defendant maintained a railroad bridge, or viaduct, extending over and above the Wabash tracks and over and above the cinder path or roadway, near the city of Venice. It was further alleged that while the plaintiff was in the exercise of due care and caution, in walking in a southerly direction along the cinder path or roadway, and had reached a point on the cinder path under or near the defendant’s overhead viaduct or bridge, that defendant’s agents carelessly and negligently caused a large wooden girder to fall or be thrown from the viaduct, causing serious and permanent injuries to plaintiff. In another count the complaint charges the defendant and its agents with wantonly and willfully causing the wooden girder to be thrown from the viaduct and so causing plaintiff’s injuries.

Defendant, in its answer, in addition to denial of the allegations of plaintiff’s complaint, pleaded that, on May 14, 1936, plaintiff and defendant settled all controversies existing between them by the payment of $50 in cash, and the payment of certain hospital bills of plaintiff, and that plaintiff signed a release of his claim in consideration thereof. In his reply, after denying the allegations of defendant’s answer and reaffirming the allegations of the complaint, plaintiff, in substance, alleged facts tending to show that the execution of the release was obtained by fraud. A further plea by defendant, and a reply to such plea by plaintiff, asserted, on part of plaintiff, and denied, on behalf of defendant, that the release was obtained through fraud.

Witnesses who testified on behalf of plaintiff established, as do the photographs in evidence in the case, that there was a well-worn pathway along the easterly side of the Wabash tracks, that passed under the viaduct or bridge which was maintained by the defendant. Such witnesses further testified that such pathway had been there for many years, and had been in daily use by members of the public for as many as 20 years. Specific reference was made to the fact that school children regularly used the pathway, which, if followed, constituted a ‘ ‘ short-cut ’ ’ between certain populous centers, and also between residences which were ” near the viaduct of defendant. One of the two employees of the defendant company, who was called as a witness by plaintiff (and who had participated in throwing or dropping the girder which struck plaintiff), testified that he had worked on the bridge of the defendant for nearly a year and that he knew of the walkway east of the Wabash tracks, and that he had seen many people walking up and down there before the day upon which the plaintiff suffered his injuries.

The evidence shows that the plaintiff was a man 57 years of age, who had been employed as a machinist in various communities, but who was unemployed at the time of the accident on February 28,1936, and had been unemployed since the previous September. The evidence further shows that on the day upon which he was injured the plaintiff had come in from Springfield on an Illinois Central freight train and got off at Madison, Illinois; that he walked around the streets of Madison, and then down the railroad tracks, and that before he turned into the pathway, he was walking along the railroad tracks of the Wabash Railroad.

It was further shown that plaintiff was walking along the cinder path just before he was struck, and had walked under the viaduct and was about six feet east of the Wabash Railroad track when he was struck by the heavy timber which was thrown off the viaduct by the defendant’s employees. It was also shown by the evidence that just prior to that time, two of defendant’s employees who had worked for defendant company for a number of years and who were, at the time, engaged in making repairs on defendant’s bridge, had taken out a guard rail on the bridge which measured 6 inches by 8 inches, and was 18 feet long. Such guard rail was shown to have weighed about 250 pounds. The two employees of defendant then lifted such guard rail, which was taken about 200 feet from the east end of the bridge, and walked along the bridge nearly 200 feet to a point immediately above the pathway along which the plaintiff was walking, apparently looking through cracks in the flooring to see if anyone was underneath the bridge. Defendant’s employees testified that they rested the heavy timber on the bridge railing preparatory to pushing it off, and that they looked down on the south side of the bridge and shouted, “Look out,” or, “Look out below.” They were not sure whether they shouted once or twice, but they both testified and admitted that they did not look to the north, from which direction plaintiff was coming, and that they did not see plaintiff. The guard rail was pushed or thrown off the viaduct by the employees of the defendant company and struck the plaintiff. Plaintiff testified that he was thereby rendered unconscious, and that when he regained consciousness he was in a hospital, to which he was taken pursuant to a call made by defendant’s employees. Plaintiff was very severely injured as the result of being struck by the timber and suffered considerable pain. The doctors who testified, indicated that plaintiff suffered a fractured spine, and other injuries which are permanent in character, with the result that plaintiff will be required to wear a brace the remainder of his life, and will never again be able to do manual labor.

On behalf of defendant, the defendant’s claim agent testified that he had gone to the hospital on May 13, 1936, after having been advised of defendant’s condition from reports received from the hospital, including the information that plaintiff had suffered a fractured spine. He did not communicate such information to plaintiff, and plaintiff at the time did not know he had a fractured spine. The claim agent testified that he made an arrangement with plaintiff by the terms of which plaintiff was to execute the release, which was introduced in evidence, in consideration of the payment to him of $50 and of the payment of hospital bills incurred as the result of his injuries. He stated that he told plaintiff there was no liability to him because he was a trespasser, but that if plaintiff wanted some railroad fare he would pay him some.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vega v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation
863 N.E.2d 733 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007)
Vega v. NORTHEAST ILL. REG. COMMUTER RR
863 N.E.2d 733 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007)
Reid ex rel. Reid v. Norfolk & Western Railway Co.
964 F. Supp. 1249 (C.D. Illinois, 1997)
McKinnon v. Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad
263 Ill. App. 3d 774 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1994)
McKinnon v. NORTHEAST ILL. REG. COMMUTER. RR
635 N.E.2d 744 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1994)
Smith v. City of Evanston
631 N.E.2d 1269 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1994)
Rodriguez v. Norfolk and Western Ry. Co.
593 N.E.2d 597 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)
Lee v. Chicago Transit Authority
562 N.E.2d 556 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
Eaton v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
555 N.E.2d 790 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
Corey v. State
703 P.2d 685 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1985)
Johnson v. Sunshine Min. Co., Inc.
684 P.2d 268 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1984)
Powers v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad
438 N.E.2d 152 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1982)
Powers v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad
416 N.E.2d 1161 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1981)
Votava v. Material Service Corp.
392 N.E.2d 768 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)
Smith v. Goldman
368 N.E.2d 1052 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1977)
Beverly Bank v. Penn Central Co.
315 N.E.2d 110 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1974)
Truemper v. Bowman
307 N.E.2d 735 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1974)
Seipp v. Chicago Transit Authority
299 N.E.2d 330 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1973)
Marler v. Moultrie-Shelby Farm Service
295 N.E.2d 744 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
23 N.E.2d 785, 302 Ill. App. 332, 1939 Ill. App. LEXIS 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdaniels-v-terminal-railroad-assn-illappct-1939.