New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad v. Robbins

76 N.E. 804, 38 Ind. App. 172, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 288
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided December 15, 1905·No. No. 5,415·Published·Cited by 25 cases

Opinion

Robinson, J.

1. In appellee’s second paragraph of complaint for damages for the death of his decedent it is averred that appellant, by its servants, negligently drove the engine and train at an excessive and dan* gerous rate of speed; that the whistle was not sounded as required by statute; that the bell was not rung; and that the accident was caused by the “negligence of said defendant and its said servants as aforesaid.” The complaint does aver several acts of negligence, but it does not proceed upon the theory that the injury was the result of the combined effect of all the acts of negligence charged. Negligence would be established by showing that appellant failed to give the signals required by statute, whether any'other acts of negligence that might be charged should be made out by the proof or not. The fact that the pleading says that [175] the accident was caused by the negligence “as aforesaid,” does not necessarily mean that the accident was caused by all the acts of negligence charged.

In Southern R. Co. v. Jones (1904), 33 Ind. App. 333, cited by appellant, the complaint alleged as negligence the use of defective brakes and running the train in excess of the speed -limited by a city ordinance. The allegation was: “That by reason of the carelessness and negligence of said defendant in failing and neglecting properly and securely to supply said caboose with good, sound, safe, and secure appliances, whereby the speed of the same could be controlled, and by reason of the carelessness and negligence of said defendant in running its said train at such high rate of speed, to wit, twenty miles per hour, within the corporate limits of said, city of Huntingburg, and thereby causing said collision as aforesaid, he received his said injuries, and not otherwise.” It was held that the injury is stated to be due to the two causes named. The court recognizes the rule that, as a general rule, all acts of negligence averred need not be proved, but says: “It is not averred that the brake would have been insufficient to check the caboose if it had been going at the rate of only eight miles an hour [the ordinance rule]. It may be fairly inferred that if the caboose had not been going at an unlawful rate of speed the brakes would not have been insufficient, or that if the brakes had not been defective the high rate of speed could have been checked; in other words the high rate of speed rendered the brakes useless.”

There is no necessary connection between the several acts of negligence attempted to be alleged, and there is nothing in the pleading to indicate that it proceeds upon the theory that all the alleged acts of negligence combined caused the accident. If the attempted averments of negligence, aside from the allegation of failure to give, the statutory signals, should be omitted from the pleading, the averment that the accident was caused by the negligence [176] “as aforesaid” would be applicable. We see nothing in the pleading to take the case out of the general rule that has long prevailed that a plaintiff may plead in one paragraph different acts of negligence, and upon the trial it is sufficient if he prove.such negligence charged as will establish his case, and this may be a single act of negligence. There was no error in overruling the demurrer to the second paragraph of complaint.

2. Under the motion for a new trial it is first argued that the evidence fails to show appellant guilty of negligence. The court instructed the jury that there was no evidencé before them that would warrant them in finding for appellee on the ground that appellant was negligent as to ringing the engine hell, or as to the rate of speed at which the train moved as it approached the crossing. • In another instruction the jury were told that the only ground upon which, if at all, appellant could be held liable, was negligence in failing to sound the whistle as required by statute.

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New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railroad v. Robbins, 76 N.E. 804, 38 Ind. App. 172, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 288 (Ind. Ct. App. 1905).

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