Merrill v. Minneapolis & St. L. Ry. Co.

27 S.D. 1
South Dakota Supreme Court·Decided December 15, 1910·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

McCOY, J.

This 'suit was commenced by the plaintiff, who-is respondent in this court, against the defendant, the appellant, to recover damages on account of an alleged injury to plaintiff’s person by being struck by one of - defendant’s locomotive engines, at a street crossing in the city of Watertown) on the 7th day of July, 1908. Plaintiff alleged that defendant carelessly and negli[3]*3gently omitted its duty while approaching the said crossing, and gave no signal by ringing the bell or sounding the steam whistle, and carelessly and negligently omitted its duty in failing to keep lookout while approaching and crossing said street, and that by reason of such negligence the defendant’s locomotive struck plaintiff while she was crossing said street, throwing her high up in the air and violently upon the ground with such force as to severely and permanently injure plaintiff, without any fault on her part, to her damage in the 'sum of $4,000. Defendant admitted that plaintiff came in contact with one of its engines while being operated ever and across said street, and 'denied any negligence in reference thereto on the part of defendant or its employees, and affirmatively alleged that all the injuries, if any, sustained by plaintiff were caused by and resulted from her failure to exercise due, proper, and ordinary care for her own safety, and that the negligence of plaintiff contributed to cause the accident and injuries alleged and complained of by plaintiff. The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff in the sum of $2,000. Defendant has brought the cause to this court on appeal, assigning various errors and also assigning the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain said verdict.

The principal question for consideration is, whether the evidence was sufficient to sustain the verdict. At the close of plaintiff’s testimony and again at the close of all the evidence, defendant moved the court for a directed verdict, on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence, and also again raised the same question by motion for new trial. Appellant contends that the evidence fails to show any negligence on its part, and fails to show that defendant’s engineer in charge of said engine was not using reasonable diligence to avoid any and all accidents at said crossing. Appellant also contends that the undisputed evidence shows that the engine was not running to exceed five or six miles an hour, when it crossed over said crossing. Ail disputed questions of fact have been resolved in favor of plaintiff by the verdict of the jury; and also all points at issue in the evidence, about which different reasonable minds might fairly and reasonably draw different conclusions, were also resolved in favor of plaintiff by the verdict of the jury. One of the material points at issue on the trial was whether or not the.bell or whistle were sounded while said engine was approaching; said crossing. On this point tlieye was a conflict in the evidence. Plaintiff and a number of witnesses who were in a position to hear testified that they heard neither bell nor whistle; while a number of witnesses, on the part [4]*4of defendant, testified that the hell and whistle were sounded. This conflict in the testimony was settled by the verdict of the jury in favor of plaintiff. Another point at issue on the trial- was the question of the speed of the engine at the time of and immediately prior to the happening of the accident. The ordinance of the city of Watertown provided that such locomotives should not run over and across streets at a greater speed than six miles an •hour. The engineer and fireman operating the said engine testified that said engine was running at the time of the said accident five or six miles an hour; and, while there were no other witnesses who undertook to assert the rate of speed of said engine at said time, still, respondent contends that the surrounding facts and circumstances show the engine was traveling at a much higher rate of speed. The incidents surrounding and culminating in an accident of this character are of such short duration and succeed each other with such rapidity that it necessitates a close analysis of the testimony in order to arrive at a proper conclusion as to the effect thereof. The following plat will serve to show the surrounding locality to some extent:

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Merrill v. Minneapolis & St. L. Ry. Co., 27 S.D. 1 (S.D. 1910).

27 S.D. 1 (Merrill v. Minneapolis & St. L. Ry. Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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