Partridge v. Boston & M. R.

184 F. 211, 107 C.C.A. 49, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5082
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedDecember 13, 1910
DocketNos. 875, 882, 883
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 184 F. 211 (Partridge v. Boston & M. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Partridge v. Boston & M. R., 184 F. 211, 107 C.C.A. 49, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5082 (1st Cir. 1910).

Opinions

PUTNAM, Circuit Judge.

Three writs of error are- here involved, and are grouped together by us as a matter of convenience for the reason that, in this case, the injury happened through a collision at a railroad crossing while the intestate, Phillips Payne Partridge, represented by the administrator of his estaté, the plaintiff in error in No. 875, and Miss Alice B. Minard, the plaintiff in error in No. 882, and the defendant in error in No. 883, were riding together over the crossing, the injury occurring to both simultaneously, resulting in the death of Phillips Payne Partridge after a space of conscious suffering, and in a severe injury to Miss Minard. A verdict was rendered in favor of Miss Minard, against which the Boston & Maine Railroad sued out the writ of error in No. 883. During the course of the trial which resulted in that verdict, an exception was taken to the refusal of the court to allow certain evidence offered by the plaintiff on the issue of damages, which resulted in the writ of error sued out by Miss Minard in No. 882.

At the trial, the evidence for the plaintiff in these cases was practically the same. Especially is this the fact with reference to Miss Minard’s testimony, which came in the form of a deposition taken for both cases. In Miss Minard’s suit, the Boston & Maine Railroad put in a full defense, with several witnesses; but in the other suit a verdict was directed for the defendant at the close of plaintiff’s testimony. Therefore the proofs are the same for each case so far as evidence was offered for the plaintiff, and that evidence may be considered in each, with comments only on some points as to its distinctive bearing on either proceeding. The evidence offered by the de[213]*213fense in Miss Minard’s suit cannot be used with reference to the writ of error arising out of Mr. Partridge’s suit. These statements it is necessary to bear in mind, because, on one very important question which we will explain later, Miss Minard’s evidence will be found to be inadmissible with regard to the Partridge suit, while admissible in her own behalf.

The leading facts, which we will state at the outset, are shown in the brief of the Boston & Maine Railroad as plaintiff in error in No. 883, substantially as follows:

“This is an action of tort brought by the plaintiff, now the defendant in error, but hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff, to recover damages for persona] injuries alleged to have been received by her at Kennebunk, in the state of Maine, on the evening of August 35, 1907, by reason of the collision of a train of the defendant, now the plaintiff1 in error, but hereinafter referred to as the defendant, with a vehicle in which she was riding at a place in said Kennebunk known and hereinafter spoken of ás Wormwood’s Crossing, where a highway crossed at grade the railroad track of the defendant company. The accident occurred at 10 o’clock p. m. The wagon in which the plaintiff was riding was being driven at the time of the accident by one Phillips Payne Partridge, to whom the plaintiff was engaged to be married. The said Partridge received injuries at the time of the accident from which he died within a few hours, but Miss Minard survived, and her deposition which was read at the trial was the only evidence produced by the plaintiff of any eyewitness to the accident.
“The following facts appeared in evidence and. were undisputed:
“The plaintiff, Miss Minard, was spending her first summer at Kennebunk Beach, where she arrived about ,TuIy 1, 3907. Mr. Partridge was also spending the summer at the same beach with the Partridge family. He, however, had spent six weeks at the same beach in 3906 and the same length of timo in 3905. and had been there for a couple of summers several years before 3905. In duly, 3.907, Partridge and Miss Minard met, and soon after became engaged.
“On the afternoon of August 15th, Partridge and Miss Minard took the train from Kennebunk Beach to Kenncbunkport to attend a dinner party. In the evening, at about 8 o’clock, having learned that the great conflagration which practically wiped out Old Orchard wa.s in progress, the plaintiff and Mr. Partridge left the dinner party and went together to a telephone booth, where Mr. Partridge called up a livery stable and engaged a team to drive to Old Orchard to witness the progress of the fire.
“ ‘X-Q. 72. You and he started for the common purpose of seeing the fire at Old Orchard? A. Yes, sir.’
“Miss Minard testified that she had never been over the highway from Kehnebunkport to Old Orchard before. There was no evidence as to whether Mr. Partridge had been over this highway prior to the night of the accident or was acquainted with it or not. but the evidence did show that both of them — Miss Minard at least once and Mr. Partridge several times — had been by train over the highway where the accident occurred.
“■Wormwood's Crossing, where the injury occurred, was the ordinary country crossing where a single-track railroad crossed the highway at grade. The highway ran from southeast to northwest, and was substantially straight for many hundred feet each side of the crossing. The team in which the plaintiff was riding approached the crossing from the southeast. The defendant’s track ran substantially from northeast to southwest. The train which collided with the plaintiff was coming from the northeast, and the defendant’s track, from the crossing, in the direction from which the train approached, was straight for nearly 3,000 feet. It will therefore be seen that as the plaintiff’s team approached the crossing it was traveling on an angle towards the approaching train.
“It further appeared ihat at the crossing were the usual white fences and cattle guards on each side of the crossing, and that-projecting over- the highway on the southerly side of the crossing, and close to it, was the usual [214]*214warning post found at grade crossings, namely, a tall post, painted white, with a crossbar, and painted thereon in large black letters. ‘Railroad Crossing,’ with a supporting arm on which was painted in large letters ‘Look Out for the Engine.’
“The accident occurred at just about 10 o’clock p. m. It was'undisputed that it was a clear night; that is, there were no clouds in the sky. The witnesses described it as ‘rather dark,’ ‘fairly dark,’ and ‘just a common, starlight night without a moon.’
“The train which collided with the team in which the plaintiff was riding was scheduled to run regularly between Old Orchard and Portland. Old Orchard is on the "Western Division of the Boston & Maine Railroad. This particular train left Portland for Old Orchard on the evening of the accident, and on each preceding day between <1 and 7 p. m., and arrived at Old Orchard at 7:23 p. m. It was due to leave Old Orchard for Portland again at 7:55 p. m.
“This train carried from Old Orchard to Portland each night three sleeping cars, one of which would be turned over at Portland to the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the other two to the Grand Trunk Railroad. These sleeping cars arrived in Old Orchard each morning and remained on a siding there throughout the day until they were picked up by the train for Portland in the evening.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
184 F. 211, 107 C.C.A. 49, 1910 U.S. App. LEXIS 5082, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/partridge-v-boston-m-r-ca1-1910.