Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Hall

90 N.E. 498, 46 Ind. App. 219, 1910 Ind. App. LEXIS 73
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 13, 1910
DocketNo. 6,538
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 90 N.E. 498 (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Hall, 90 N.E. 498, 46 Ind. App. 219, 1910 Ind. App. LEXIS 73 (Ind. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinions

Hadley, J.

The facts upon which appellee’s alleged cause of action is predicated are that on and prior to June 12, 1903, the Pittsburg Glass Company operated a large manufacturing plant at Kokomo, and in connection with its plant had yards with a number of railroad tracks laid therein, which yards were enclosed by a high fence and entered through a gateway, which was kept closed and locked when not in use. The keys to the gateway were in the possession of appellant. All of these tracks were laid, owned and used exclusively by appellant, said tracks having been placed there by consent of the glass company. Said tracks were used exclusively by appellant in delivering freight to, and receiving freight from, said glass company. Said tracks were connected with the tracks of appellant outside the enclosure. The glass company had a foreman who gave orders to the switching crew of appellant as to the switching of cars upon the tracks, or shifting them about. Appellee was never in the service of appellant, but was a servant of the glass ■company at the time of the injury complained of. On June 12, 1903, a box-car, loaded with crushed stone, had been set on one of the tracks in the yards of the glass company, and opposite a building called a “stone-house,” belonging to said glass company.- Appellee, with other employes of the glass company, was engaged in unloading said stone from the car, using a chute extending from the car into the stone-house for that purpose. -While this work was in progress, and when the car was partially unloaded, the foreman of the glass company directed the switching crew of appellant to switch-out some loaded ears, which were behind the ear that was being unloaded and on the same track. To comply with this order it was necessary to suspend the work of unloading the stone-ear and connect it with the loaded cars, switch them all out together onto the main tracks, and then switch the stone-car [222]*222back to its original position. Before beginning the switching, appellant’s crew went to the s1;one-car and notified appellee and the men engaged with him in unloading the ear to take down the chute, and that they were going to switch out said stone-car. Pursuant to this notice, the men in the stone-ear stopped their work, took down the chute and some of them got out of the ear. The others, appellee being one of the number, of their own choice and volition, and for their own convenience, and without any necessity therefor, remained in the car to ride while it was being switched. During the switching, the car was stopped several times, and ample opportunity was afforded appellee and his companions to get out of the car, if they had so desired. During the switching, appellee stood upright in the car, holding by one hand to an iron rod above his head. The car in which appellee was riding was necessarily pulled out of the yards, switched back, and sent down another track into said yards, and in so doing it was sent down with such velocity that it bumped into some loaded cars with such force as to jerk appellee so as to dislocate his shoulder and otherwise injure him. At the time of his injury, and for a long time prior thereto, there was a rule of appellant prohibiting persons from riding on or in freight-cars, which rule applied to switching yards as well as the main track. It is admitted that the car was sent down the track at a greater velocity than was .necessarily required in the performance of the work appellant was attempting to do, but with no greater force than was ordinarily used in doing such work. It is also clearly shown that it had been- a custom, extending over a period of twelve years, for the employes of the glass- company, when unloading a car, as appellee was doing, and when it was switched, as was done in this case, to remain in the car during such switching, if they so desired. And this was done with the knowledge of the switching crew moving said cars. It was shown that this custom was not at the request of the glass company, or of [223]*223anyone else, but was purely a voluntary act on the part of the employes. It was shown that none of the officers of appellant company knew of such custom, and it was not shown that any agent or employe of appellant had knowledge or notice of said custom, except said switching crews.

The complaint averred substantially the foregoing facts. The complaint was demurred to and the demurrer overruled. This ruling is assigned as error. 'Upon verdict for appellee, a motion for a new trial was filed, which was overruled. This is assigned as error. ' .

1. The question presented upon the complaint, upon various instructions, and upon the 'evidence, is narrowed down to the single question as to whether, under the foregoing facts, there is a liability upon the part of appellant for the injury shown to have been committed. Appellant contends that appellee was nothing more than a licensee and as such was not entitled to any protection at the hands of appellant, except as against wilful injury. It is admitted by appellant that if a greater duty was owing to appellee than as here stated, then the judgment should be affirmed. On the other hand, appellee contends that he was more than a licensee; that he was an employe of the consignee engaged in the work of the consignee when injured; that by reason of the long-continued custom of the manner of unloading the cars and of the employes in riding in said cars during the time they were being switched, it became so fixed that it became a part of the contract of shipment; and therefore when appellant delivered a ear to the glass company it delivered it upon the contract that the glass company not only would be permitted to unload the car at the place it was delivered, but that, in case it became necessary to move said car before it was unloaded, the employes of the company would be permitted to remain in the ear during said moving and until the ear was reset at the point of delivery.

The question thus presented is a new one, and the long [224]*224line of decisions and authorities to which we have been cited by appellant, and those, in addition, which we have examined in an independent investigation, as well as the decisions cited by appellee, have been found to have little direct application to this exact question. Prom these authorities, however, tve have been able to deduce some general principles which aid us in arriving at a proper conclusion.

2. It is fundamental that before there can be a liability for a negligent injury, there must be a legal.duty owing from the party committing the injury to the party injured. Toledo, etc., R. Co. v. Hauck (1893), 8 Ind. App. 367; Stalcup v. Louisville, etc., R. Co. (1897), 16 Ind. App. 584; City of Indianapolis v. Emmelman (1886), 108 Ind. App. 530, 58 Am. Rep. 65.

3. 4. Numerous decisions hold that a railroad company owes no higher duty than to avoid any affirmative, Avrongful act or wilful injury to trespassers or licensees upon its right of way, tracks or cars. Stalcup v. Louisville, etc., R. Co., supra; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Martin (1903), 31 Ind. App. 308; McCabe v. Chicago, etc., R. Co. (1894), 88 Wis. 531, 60 N. W. 260. But where one is on the right of way, depot grounds, tracks or cars by invitation, express or implied, of those authorized to extend it, the company owes to him the duty of exercising ordinary care,- and will be liable for an injury negligently inflicted upon him. Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Martin, supra; Toledo, etc., R. Co. v. Hauck, supra; Newson v.

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Bluebook (online)
90 N.E. 498, 46 Ind. App. 219, 1910 Ind. App. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pittsburgh-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-v-hall-indctapp-1910.