Pamburn v. Michigan Central Railroad

200 N.W. 111, 228 Mich. 472, 1924 Mich. LEXIS 802
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 6, 1924
DocketDocket No. 32.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 200 N.W. 111 (Pamburn v. Michigan Central Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pamburn v. Michigan Central Railroad, 200 N.W. 111, 228 Mich. 472, 1924 Mich. LEXIS 802 (Mich. 1924).

Opinion

Sharpe, J.

Defendant reviews by writ of error a judgment recovered by plaintiff for $3,000 for injuries sustained by him, due to a collision between a Ford coupé in which he was riding and the locomotive on one of defendant’s north-bound passenger trains at a highway crossing near the village of St. Charles, in Saginaw county. Defendant moved for a directed verdict, for the reason that there was no competent proof of its negligence, and also because under the proofs the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence. This motion was taken under advisement and the cause submitted to the jury, after which it was renewed and denied and the judgment entered.

After a careful review of the evidence, and with due regard to the rule that, where there is any conflict in the testimony, the facts must be submitted to the jury, we are of the opinion that the motion to direct should have been granted for the second reason stated.

Plaintiff was a traveling salesman, 31 years of age. He had driven the car about 9,000 miles. He was familiar with the situation surrounding the crossing. About 2 o’clock on the afternoon of November 24, 1920, he started north out of St. Charles for Saginaw. When about 90 rods north of the railroad depot, the highway turns directly to the east and crosses defendant’s right of way. In addition to the main track, there was a side track at the point of intersection. A small building, 16.3 feet by 12.3 feet, with eaves 9.7 feet high and peak 13 feet high, used for weighing sugar beets, was placed on defendant’s right of way 26 feet south of the center line of the highway. It was 18.6 feet from the east side of this building to the west rail of the side track. This track was 4.7 feet between the rails, and it was 9 feet from its east rail to the west rail of the main *474 track, making 32.3 feet from the building to the nearest rail of the main track, on which plaintiff’s car was when struck. There was a gondola car standing on the side track, the north end of which was about 75 feet from the south line of the highway. The height of this gondola was about 8.5 feet above the rail. The top of the cab of the locomotive which struck plaintiff’s car was 14 feet 8 inches, and the top of one of the cars attached thereto was 14 feet 2 inches above the rail. Of the accuracy of these •figures there seems to be no dispute. Most of them were shown by actual measurements taken.

The plaintiff testified:

“As I approached the Michigan Central Railroad I was driving east and drove along until. I got to just at the weighing station. * * * I came right along here. And that was mighty bumpy up in here. When I got here I stopped and looked. When I started up again I started up on low. When I got right up so I could see past this house, I could see the train coming. Train must have been, I should judge it must have been sixty feet or better, ninety feet say.

“Mr. Henry: How much?

“A. Ninety feet.

“Q. When you first saw it?

“A. Yes.

“Q. Then what did you do, Mr. Pamburn?

“A. Stopped. I was on this track, my front wheel was. By the time the train was coming I couldn’t get off. I stopped as soon as I could see the train coming. * * * I came to a dead stop momentarily.

“Q. You looked each way?

“A. Looked to the south; I could not see. I looked to the north.. When I started up I took a glance this way. I could see the train was coming. I looked both to the north and south and I listened. My hearing was all right. I do not wear glasses. I could see through the windshield all right.”

On cross-examination he testified:

"The road is straight for about 3 blocks before you *475 reach the crossing. The road is not level; never was. Over 200 feet to the crossing there are no hills. It is just the same as an ordinary country road. There were no hills approaching the track.

“Q. You ran right along straight, level from the direction—

“A. Yes.

“Q. And that is true right over the crossing, is it not?

“A. Yes. Í stopped just at the weigh station before reaching the crossing. Just before going on the spur track. I judge it is 15 feet from the west rail of the main track to the east side of the weigh station. It might be a couple of feet more. The point where I stopped my machine was right at the edge of the weigh station. The front of my machine would be just a little past the east side of the building when I. stopped. I just stopped momentarily. Just stopped and started up. I looked in both directions when I stopped. /

“Q. Had you gone far enough beyond that weigh station so that you could see the side of the track?

“A. Not of the train track. Up until I stopped at the weigh station, I might have been running the Ford 11 miles. I could not have gone any faster. The road was in such condition you could not sit in the machine. I was running not to exceed 11 miles an hour, stopped, started up and then after I started up again, I looked both to the north and to the south again. I then saw the train coming from the south. I was not very far from the track when I saw the train coming. When I saw the train, I stopped. I could not say how fast I was going at that time. I had it on low. I was stopped when the collision took place — stopped before the engine hit me. The engine was pretty close at the time I stopped — possibly 150 feet away. The train had to move that distance before the collision took place. From where I started at the weigh station to where I stopped on the track was 15 feet in my judgment. I could not tell how fast I was going when I stopped. I have' driven a machine a good many years. I do not think I was going over five miles an hour.

“Q. Your judgment is you were going about five miles an hour?

*476 “A. Between four and five, I should judge. When I am running five miles an hour, I can stop a Ford within half of its length.

“Q. Your judgment, in moving four or five miles an hour, a Ford can be stopped half of it?

“A. On a good, dry pavement.

“Q. Within what time, could you stop on that day?

“A. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell you. I don’t remember. About—

“Q. You wouldn’t move more than half of its length driving on that road at the time. If you were running four or five miles an hour. You would not go over half of its length.

“A. I don’t know. It might go a little more than the length of it, or could go farther. * * *

“Q. If the train had been close enough you could have seen it over the top of the gondola, couldn’t you?

“Q. As you rounded the corner of the weigh station ?

“A. You couldn’t see the entire train. You could have seen the engine.

“Q.

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Related

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216 N.W. 380 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1927)
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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
200 N.W. 111, 228 Mich. 472, 1924 Mich. LEXIS 802, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pamburn-v-michigan-central-railroad-mich-1924.