Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad v. Cook

55 N.W. 943, 37 Neb. 435, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 192
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJune 30, 1893
DocketNo. 5101
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 55 N.W. 943 (Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad v. Cook) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad v. Cook, 55 N.W. 943, 37 Neb. 435, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 192 (Neb. 1893).

Opinion

Maxwell, Ch. J.

The amended petition of the plaintiff below, after stating the corporate existence of the defendant company and the operation of its road running northwesterly through the counties of Hall, Howard, Greeley, and Valley to Ord, Nebraska, avers, in substance, that on the 8th day of September, 1884, the plaintiff, being then a child of the age of thirteen years, while walking upon the track of the said railroad company, in the county of Greeley, in said state, was run into and against and violently struck and thrown from the track of the said railroad company by a locomotive attached to a passenger train then in use upon the said track of the said railroad company; that by reason of being struck and thrown from said track by the said locomotive, this plaintiff was frightfully mangled and permanently injured; that this plaintiff’s right leg and hip were broken, and the plaintiff’s left foot was terribly mangled and crushed and bruised, and the flesh torn thereform, and the heel severed from the said foot, and the use of said foot [439]*439was thereby permanently injured and destroyed, and plaintiff has suffered, and still suffers, greatly with bodily pain by reason of said injury, and that the injury to the said foot was so great that said foot has never been healed up and still remains an open sore; that said foot is of an ill-shape in consequence thereof, and plaintiff is unable to wear a shoe upon it owing to its ill-shape and its unhealed -condition; that plaintiff, in consequence, is unable to stand or walk upon said foot, and is unable to work and maintain herself in any way, and has, in consequence of said injury, become a helpless cripple for life.

The petition further alleges that plaintiff was struck and run against by said locomotive through the gross neglect and carelessness of the said Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company, said neglect and carelessuéss being in not providing its locomotive'and cars thereto attached with the latest improved and best appliances for the operating, controlling and stopping of said locomotive and train of cars; and through the gross negligence and carelessness of its agents, employes, and servants in chai-ge of the said train, and not through any act of carelessness on the part of this plaintiff.

It also avers that said locomotive and train of cars attached thereto were not supplied with air brakes, they being the latest improved and best appliances then in use upon all carefully equipped trains for speedily controlling and stopping them; that said locomotive and cars thereto attached were running off from the schedule time stated by said railroad company, a fact at that time unknown to plaintiff; that they were running at a greater rate of speed than allowed by the rules of said company, to-wit, at a rate of forty miles an hour; that the defendant’s operators, ■agents, and servants in charge of said train of cars, carelesssly neglected to sound the whistle and ring the bell of the said locomotive to apprise the plaintiff of its approach although they were able to see the plaintiff more than [440]*440seventy rods in front of the said locomotive and train, and they carelessly and negligently failed to slacken or stop the said locomotive and train of cars, although the said agents, servants, operators, and engineer in charge thereof had ample opportunity to stop said train of cars before injuring the plaintiff, had said train of cars been properly supplied with air brakes and had said operators, agents, servants and engineer applied all means within their power to stop said locomotive and train after discovering the perilous situation of the plaintiff.

And the petition alleges that by reason of the carelessness and negligence of the said Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company as above set forth, and the gross negligence of its agents, employes, operators, and engineer, as above set'forth, and the injury sustained by this plaintiff in consequence thereof, this plaintiff has been damaged and injured in the sum of $25,000, no part of which has-been paid by the said Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company, nor by any other person or corporation.

Wherefore, plaintiff prays judgment against it for the sum of $25,000, with in'erest thereon from the 8th day of September, 1884, and for the cost of this action.

To this petition the railway company filed an answer:

“ The above named defendant, for answer to the plaintiff’s amended petition herein, admits all and singular the allegations contained in the first paragraph of said petition, and that it is successor to the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad Company as averred in said petition.

Defendant admits and alleges that on the 8th day of September, 1884, while plaintiff was walking on the track on defendant’s ground in the county and state therein stated, she was run against and struck by defendant’s locomotive attached to one of its passenger trains and thrown from the track, but alleges that the same was unavoidable by defendant, its agents or employes, and without fault of defendant, its agents or employes.

[441]*441“Defendant avers that the said plaintiff, at the time aforesaid was, wholly without authority or license, walking without any precaution between the rails of the defendant’s track, and was a trespasser thereon.

“Defendant has no knowledge or information, except from the statements of the plaintiff’s petition and statements given above on the part of the defendant in the trial of the said action, as to the plaintiff’s age at the time of the accident, and leaves the plaintiff to make her proofs as she may be advised are material.

“Further answering, defendant admits that the plaintiff was injured at the time aforesaid at the time of said collision, but as to the extent of said injuries the defendant has no knowledge or information except from averments of the said petition and the testimony given on the part of the defendant on said trial; and it leaves the plaintiff to make her proof thereof as she may be advised is material.

“ The defendant alleges that whatever injuries, if any, which the plaintiff so then and there sustained at the time of said collision, the said injuries were by said plaintiff received and sustained by and through her own fault, carelessness, and negligence contributing thereto, and in no respect by or through any fault, wrong, or negligence of the said defendant, its employes, agents, servants, operators, or engineers.

“ The defendant denies each and every other allegation of the said petition not herein answered or denied.”

On the trial of the cause the jury made special findings and returned a general verdict as follows:

“You will, in addition to your general verdict return answers to each of the following questions:

Q,. Was the plaintiff at the time of the injury of the asre of thirteen and a half years?

A. Yes.

Q. Was she then apparently a girl of ordinary discretion?

[442]*442A. Yes.

Q. Was she then at that time deaf to any considerable' ■extent ?
A. No.

Q. Had she just before the happening of the accident left her brother’s house to return to her father ?

Q.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 N.W. 943, 37 Neb. 435, 1893 Neb. LEXIS 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/omaha-republican-valley-railroad-v-cook-neb-1893.