Missouri Pacific Railway Co., Thompson v. Guy

157 S.W.2d 11, 203 Ark. 166, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 369
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 24, 1941
Docket4-6495
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 157 S.W.2d 11 (Missouri Pacific Railway Co., Thompson v. Guy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Missouri Pacific Railway Co., Thompson v. Guy, 157 S.W.2d 11, 203 Ark. 166, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 369 (Ark. 1941).

Opinion

Greenhaw, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Clark circuit court awarding the appellee, a young man twenty-four year's of age, $25,000 for personal injuries which he claimed to have received while an employee of the appellant upon a weed burning machine. The appellee was employed in the summer of 1939 and worked on a weed burning machine. In December, 1939, he took an examination upon the rules promulgated by the appellant for the safety of its employees and others. He stood a good examination, and passed with credit to himself, having answered correctly 243 rules upon which he was.examined.

This -suit was filed on September 28, 1940, under the Federal Employers ’ Liability Act. Appellee claimed that his injuries were the result of negligence on the part of the appellant’s servant, agent and employee in shifting gears on the weed burner in such a manner as to cause it to give a sudden, violent, unusual and unnecessary jerk, thereby throwing the appellee off the machine, resulting in serious and permanent injury to him.

On August 31, 1940, the date of his alleged injuries, he was working on a comparatively new Giant Octopus weed burning machine, the machine having been used only about six months prior to his alleged injuries. The weed burning machine is in two sections, the first section being a large tank which carries the fuel for operation of the motor and burners, and the other section, which is attached to the fuel section and follows immediately behind it, is the section where the appellee' was working. Three employees operate the weed burning machine. The conductor sits on the front part of the fuel section in order to keep a lookout in the direction the weed burning machine is moving, and the other two employees sit opposite each other oil the rear section facing* the rear, and operate the weed burners. The weed burners extend out from the rear of the second section and are adjustable, so that the operator of each burner can move it around from place to place, burning the weeds, while the machine is moving along the track. *

On this occasion, H. B. Jones was in charge of the weed burning machine, operating the weed burner on the right side of the machine, and the appellee was operating the weed burner on the left side of the machine.

The evidence showed that the machine needed oiling once a day, and Mr. Jones oiled it that morning before they started to work and before appellee arrived. They had been burning weeds from around 7 a. m. until around 11 a. m., at which time they placed the machine on a switch, where it remained stationary for some 15 or 20 minutes while a freight train and a passenger train passed on the main line. After the trains had passed, the weed burning machine was moved back on the main line, and had gone a distance the equivalent of one or two city blocks when the alleged injuries took place. After the weed burner had been placed in motion and was moving slowly 'along a level track, the appellee left his seat, which was at a rather high position on the rear section of the machine, and went down upon a low platform on his side and oiled some machinery. The platform he was standing on, according to the evidence, was about 18 inches from the ground and about 10 inches wide. The length of the platform did not appear in evidence, but from the pictures of the machine which were introduced it extended for some feet along the side, of the machine. There was a long bar placed alongside the machine at a convenient place for an employee to hold to.

The appellee testified that after he had finished oiling the machinery on his side there was a sudden jerk of the machine, due to changing gears, which threw him off the machine, causing him to be struck by part of the machine and knocking him some 10 or 15 feet clown a dump; that • at the time this occurred the machine was traveling at a rate of 10 or 12 miles per hour. The other evidence showed that the machine was moving along at a very slow rate, which is usual and customary when the weed burners are being operated, and all parties connected with the operation of the machine testified that at the time this occurred the weed burners were lighted and in use. The evidence further showed that the machine is operated in low gear when the burners are in use.

It was undisputed that the appellee left his seat where he was supposed to work of his own volition and went down on the side of the machine to oil it without being instructed to do so by Mr. Jones who was in charge of the machine. The appellee admitted that he was familiar with the rules of the company. Rules 146, 148 and 173 promulgated by the appellant, and which were in effect at the time, were introduced in evidence and are as follows:

Rule 146: “No repairs or adjustments must be made to any part of the car or machine while the car is in motion, except in necessary regulation of fuel and spark. When repairs are made, cars must be removed from main track or protected by flag.”

Rule 148: ‘ ‘ Scuffling or changing position while car is in motion must not be permitted.”

Rule 173: ‘ ‘Repairs to motor cars, weed burners and discers must not he made while the machinery is in motion. When repairs are made, car must he moved from main line or protected by flag.”

The appellee was immediately taken to the office of Dr. McLean in Gurdon who testified that the only visible evidence of injury to the appellee was “a bruise or an abrasion” about one-half inch long on his left shoulder, which did not penetrate the skin; that he made a thorough examination of the appellee, stripped him and looked bim all over, and that was all he was able to find, wrong with him; that the appellee told him that he slipped and fell off the machine, and that he sent him to the hospital, as he had no N-ray machine to take pictures.

H. B.

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Related

Mo. Pac. Rd. Co., Thompson, Tr. v. Keeton, Admx.
183 S.W.2d 505 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1944)
Missouri Pac. R. v. Spangler
140 F.2d 917 (Eighth Circuit, 1944)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 S.W.2d 11, 203 Ark. 166, 1941 Ark. LEXIS 369, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-pacific-railway-co-thompson-v-guy-ark-1941.