Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. Chick

50 P. 605, 6 Kan. App. 480, 1897 Kan. App. LEXIS 359
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedOctober 20, 1897
DocketNo. 198
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 50 P. 605 (Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. Chick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas 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. v. Chick, 50 P. 605, 6 Kan. App. 480, 1897 Kan. App. LEXIS 359 (kanctapp 1897).

Opinion

Schoonover, J.

Maude Chick, an infant, commenced her action in the District Court of Franklin County to recover damages for personal injuries sus[481]*481tained by the negligence of the defendant. In her petition she alleged that, while attempting to lead her horse from the front of her father’s house, in the city of Ottawa, to Locust Street, on the west side of the house, the horse was frightened, by a railway train which was running at a rate of speed exceeding twenty miles an hour, and in excess of the rate of speed prescribed by an ordinance of the city, and in excess of an ordinarily safe and reasonable rate of speed, and became unmanageable and injured her. She further alleges, in substance, that when the train was within a few feet of her and her horse, and while she was in full view of the engineer and other servants of the Company, they carelessly and with gross negligence caused to be suddenly opened for the escape of steam the safety valve of the engine, causing a terrifying noise, and that thereby the horse, becoming frightened, reared, and crowded her over upon a picket fence, falling upon and' injuring her person.

It was fully alleged in the petition that the injuries of the plaintiff were caused by the carelessness, negligence and mismanagement of the defendant. The defendant denied generally and specifically all the averments of negligence on its part, and alleged that the plaintiff’s injuries, if any, were caused by her own negligence and want of proper care. The case was tried to a jury and.resulted in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff for $325. The defendant below brings the case here for review.

In the petition three grounds for recovery are insisted upon First, that the train of defendant was being operated in violation of an ordinance ; second, that there was a violent and startling noise made by the engine through the carelessness and negligence of the de[482]*482fendant’s servants; third, that the train was being operated at a dangerous and excessive rate of speed.

The jury in their special findings of fact found that the defendant’s engine and train did not make a loud or unusual noise as it approached the point opposite plaintiff. This ground for recovery will not be further considered.

i. ordinance affittóa. The plaintiff in error insists in its brief that the trial court erred in the admission of evidence offered by plaintiff below, in the following particular :

‘ ‘ The question being as to the rate of speed railroad trains were prescribed to run within the limits of the city of Ottawa, by ordinance thereof, alleged in the petition to have taken effect and to have been approved about June 15, 1887, and in force January 24, 1892, the court allowed to be read in evidence to the jury, over the objections of the defendant Company, a document purporting to be an ordinance of said city, entitled, ‘Ordinance No. 67,’ and approved June 13, 1877.”

In the petition it is alleged that the ordinance was approved June 13, 1887, while in fact it should have been June 15, 1877. The ordinance is set out by its proper title and number, and the section of the ordinance alleged to have been violated is set forth in substance, with the further allegation that the ordinance was in full force and effect at the time of the injury.

It is manifest that the error in the date of the approval of the ordinance in no way prejudiced the defendant. The ordinance was one of the revised ordinances of the city of Ottawa, of 1887, and as such was offered in evidence. It was read from the “Revised Ordinances of the City of Ottawa.”

[483]*4833. Instructions examined. [482]*482From the record, it does not appear in what form [483]*483the revised ordinances were published, but in the absence of any evidence as to their invalidity it will be presumed that they were revised and published as authorized by law. The title of the ordinance is sufficient, it is not void in law, and the trial court committed no error in permitting it to be read in evidence. It is contended by counsel for plaintiff in error in their brief that the trial court erred in giving the following instructions.

“7. As to the rate of speed, you are informed that the city had the lawful right to prescribe by ordinance the rate of speed at which trains should be run in the city, and an ordinance fixing the maximum rate of speed at six miles an hour is a proper exercise of municipal power and a valid regulation. To run at a higher rate of speed is evidence of negligence proper to be considered by the jury. If, however, the rate of speed, although excessive, does not cause the injury, it becomes entirely immaterial. Not only must it appear that the speed was in excess of that prescribed by ordinance, but also that it was the direct or proximate cause, or one of the direct or proximate causes, that produced the injury to the plaintiff.”
“11. If you find the defendant guilty of negligence in one or both of the matters, as alleged in the petition, and that the plaintiff was injured thereby, then your next inquiry should be whether the plaintiff herself failed to exercise reasonable care on her part and thereby contributed to her own injury. If her own negligence contributed directly or proximately to such injuries, she cannot recover. The law in such cases does not compare or apportion the negligence of the parties, but denies all relief to one who, by her own negligence, has contributed directly or proximately to an injury for which she asks damages.
“12. In determining whether she was in the exercise of proper care on her part, you will consider the situation in which she was — the knowledge of warning of danger, and all the attendant circumstances — and then say whether she exercised proper care, that [484]*484is, the care and caution that a person of her age of ordinary and reasonable prudence would have exercised in the same situation. When she first observed the train, she had a right to believe that it would approach at no greater fate of speed than provided by ordinance, unless it was apparent to her, or in the exercise of ordinary and reasonable prudence it ought to have been apparent to her, that it was coming at a greater rate of speed. She was required to exercise ordinary prudence in observing the movement of the train and in caring for her own safety, as I have just said.
“13. Although the railroad track was rightfully in the street and the Company had the right to properly operate its trains thereon as stated, still the plaintiff had the right also to use the street outside the track in a reasonable and prudent manner, for the purposes for which streets are ordinarily used, exercising such care and diligence as a person of ordinary prudence would exercise under like circumstances.
“14. Whether the plaintiff, upon all the evidence and circumstances proven, exercised the care and caution of a person of ordinary and reasonable prudence, as before stated, is submitted as a question of fact for the jury. If she did not, and such failure contributed proximately to the injury, she cannot recover.”

The defendant below requested the following instructions which were modified by the court. They were given as modified, and the defendant excepted :

“2.

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Bluebook (online)
50 P. 605, 6 Kan. App. 480, 1897 Kan. App. LEXIS 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-pacific-railway-co-v-chick-kanctapp-1897.