McNealy v. Illinois Central Railroad

193 N.E.2d 879, 43 Ill. App. 2d 460, 1963 Ill. App. LEXIS 668
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 18, 1963
DocketGen. 48,950
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 193 N.E.2d 879 (McNealy v. Illinois Central Railroad) 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
McNealy v. Illinois Central Railroad, 193 N.E.2d 879, 43 Ill. App. 2d 460, 1963 Ill. App. LEXIS 668 (Ill. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE McCORMICK

delivered the opinion of the court.

An action was brought by Teamie McNealy against the Illinois Central Railroad Company to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while a passenger aboard the defendant’s passenger train. The plaintiff alleges that the injuries resulted from the alleged negligence of the defendant in making an emergency stop and because of the improper construction of the chairs in the ladies’ powder room. There is no dispute that the plaintiff was a passenger aboard defendant’s train and that an emergency stop was made. Nor is there any dispute that the plaintiff was injured, though the defendant denies that she was injured to the extent which she alleges. The case was tried by a court and jury. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant, and assessed the plaintiff’s damages in the sum of $10,000. Judgment was entered upon the verdict. At the close of all the evidence the plaintiff had moved for a directed verdict, which motion was denied by the trial court. The trial court overruled the defendant’s post-trial motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or in the alternative for a new trial, and also overruled defendant’s motion for a remittitur as a condition for the denial of a new trial.

The defendant here contends that the trial court should have entered judgment notwithstanding the verdict because there was no evidence showing negligence on the part of the defendant, or, in the alternative, granted a new trial on the grounds that the verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence, and that the trial court was in error in its rulings on evidence and instructions during the trial. The defendant also contends that the verdict is excessive.

On September 13, 1954 plaintiff was a passenger aboard the twelfth coach of defendant’s southbound train No. 3, “The Louisiane.” The train consisted of two diesel locomotives and sixteen cars, en route from Chicago to New Orleans, plaintiff’s destination. The train was behind schedule because of an inoperative engine in one of the locomotives and could not make up time. Immediately prior to the accident the train was proceeding slightly uphill at a speed of forty miles per hour. As the train approached Grallman, Mississippi, which was not a scheduled stop, an emergency stop was made to avoid striking an automobile which came upon the track and stopped in front of the train. At the time the plaintiff was in the defendant’s powder room sitting on a stool fixing her hair before a mirror. The stool, or chair, on which the plaintiff was sitting at the time of the accident had no sides. The plaintiff testified that when the train came to a sudden stop she tried to catch the sides but that she had nothing to hold on to and was twisted and thrown against the floor of the powder room on her back and left leg.

A witness, Alida Fontana, testified on behalf of the plaintiff that at the time she was also in the powder room sitting in a big chair with arms, and that when the train jerked unexpectedly she held on to the sides and did not fall. Mrs. Fontana testified that there was but one jerk and there was no warning of any stop.

The law governing the duty of a railroad company to its passengers requires no citation of authority. It owes to the passenger the highest degree of care consistent with the practical operation of the railroad and the mode of conveyance adopted. The defendant argues strenuously that there was no negligence in the conduct of the engineer at the time when he made the emergency stop. In 10 Am Jur Carriers, § 1344, it is said:

“The decisions are in accord upon the proposition that a carrier is not liable for injuries to a passenger resulting from the application of the emergency brakes in order to avoid or prevent an imminent danger not otherwise avoidable, and reasonably believed to be attended with more serious consequences than the sudden application of the brakes. Where, however, the danger sought to be avoided by the sudden application of the brakes is due to the carrier’s negligence, the carrier will not be excused from liability for injury to a passenger occasioned by the sudden stopping of the train. Thus, a railroad company will be liable for injury to a passenger caused by the sudden application of the emergency brake to avoid striking a traveler at a crossing, if the carrier is negligent in failing to give the traveler timely warning or to observe his danger in time to stop without resort to the emergency brake. The question whether such an emergency exists as will excuse the carrier from liability for injury to a passenger caused by the sudden checking or stopping of a train or car is obviously dependant upon the circumstances surrounding each case.”

“The degree of care required of a common carrier is not capable of a precise formulation, applicable to all situations that may arise. In general, however, carriers of passengers are required to exercise the highest degree of care, vigilance, and precaution for the safety of those it undertakes to transport. ... It is clear that the rule does not require such a degree of vigilance as will be wholly inconsistent with the carrier’s methods of transportation, or impracticable to snch an extent as to interfere with its regular business. . . . The application of this rule obviously will depend upon the factual situation in each case.” 10 Am Jur Carriers, sec 1245. It has been said that the obligation of a common carrier is to do all that human care, vigilance and foresight could reasonably do, consistent with the mode of conveyance and the practical operation of the road, to convey its passengers in safety to their destination. Alton Light and Traction Co. v. Oller, 217 Ill 15, 75 NE 419. The negligence of the carrier must have been the proximate cause of the accident. In Neering v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 383 Ill 366, 50 NE2d 497, the Supreme Court said:

“The injury must be the natural and probable result of the negligent act or omission and be of such a character as an ordinarily prudent person ought to have foreseen as likely to occur as a result of the negligence, although it is not essential that the person charged with negligence should have foreseen the precise injury which resulted from his act.”

Questions as to negligence, due care, and proximate cause are ordinarily questions of fact for a jury to decide. Ney v. Yellow Cab Co., 2 Ill2d 74, 84, 117 NE2d 74, 80. It is the rule that where a judgment notwithstanding the verdict is sought by the defendant the question presented is whether there is any evidence which, taken with the intendments most favorable to the plaintiff, tends to prove the charge of the complaint. A reviewing court in considering a motion to set aside a verdict of the jury because it is against the manifest weight of the evidence has no right to substitute its judgment for the verdict of the jury and judgment of the trial court unless the opposite result is clearly apparent and evident.

In the instant case on this particular element in the case the trial court properly refused to direct a verdict in favor of the defendant or to enter a judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

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Bluebook (online)
193 N.E.2d 879, 43 Ill. App. 2d 460, 1963 Ill. App. LEXIS 668, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcnealy-v-illinois-central-railroad-illappct-1963.