Rowe v. New York Cent. & H. R. Railroad

31 N.Y.S. 304, 82 Hun 153, 89 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 153, 63 N.Y. St. Rep. 753
New York Supreme Court·Decided December 7, 1894·Published

Opinion

HARDIN, P. J.

Chapter 565, art. 2, § 36, of the Laws of 1890, provides that “all trains and locomotives on railroads crossing each other at grade shall come to a full stop before crossing, not less than two hundred nor more than eight hundred feet from the crossing and shall then cross only when the way is clear and upon a signal from the watchman stationed at the crossing.” The evidence discloses that the defendant did not comply with the statute, and by reason thereof the accident occurred. Its train, at the time of collision, [305] was going at the rate of about 10 miles an hour. No negligence was shown on the part of the plaintiff, and it was properly assumed at the trial that he was free from contributory negligence. Chapman v. Railroad Co., 19 N. Y. 341; Masterson v. Railroad Co., 84 N. Y. 256; Bagley v. Bowe, 105 N. Y. 171, 11 N. E. 386. The car in which the plaintiff was seated was struck by the defendant’s engine, and a hole knocked in it, and on the occasion of the collision the car in which the plaintiff was seated was thrown off the track, and apparently with sufficient force to overturn the freight house. The engine and smokestack and cowcatcher, after leaving the track, were severed from the tender of the engine; and evidence was given tending to show that the plaintiff was thrown from the seat he was sitting upon, striking upon his left hip and side, and that he was thrown across the car, which was tipped over on its side; and on the morning of the accident the plaintiff found bruises on his left hip and side arid several other places on his back, and he on that day procured liniment of Dr. Lindslay, and applied it to the injured parts; and there is some evidence tending to show that the morning he arrived home he was lame, looked pale and haggard, and subsequently thereto was obliged to carry a cane for several months, and that prior to the injuries he wms a strong, healthy man, about 25 years of age; that he had theretofore never received any injuries, or been ailing; that his usual weight was from 185 to 190 pounds, and that his weight at the time of the trial (October 9,1893) was 161 pounds. Upon the trial several physicians in behalf of the plaintiff testified in effect that the defendant’s left limb is shorter than the right, and that there is a curvature of the spine in the lumbar region; that the left side of the pelvis was let down or lowered, and that the buttock on the left side was smaller than the right; and that the left limb, near the hip, was smaller, and the flesh flabby, and measured less than the right; and that the right shoulder was lowered, and that a deformity exists which is quite observable. Numerous hypothetical questions were propounded to the physicians called on either side, and their opinions somewhat differ as to the physical condition of the plaintiff at the time of the trial, and as to the causes which induced the conditions found upon an examination of the plaintiff, and as to whether the injuries will be of short duration, recovered from within a limited period, or whether they will be permanent. One of the physicians testified that “a degree of inflammation severe enough to produce permanent changes in the length of the limb would be attended by heat, pain, swelling, and a much restricted function or ability to move the joint; a limitation of motion.” Dr. Sutton, one of the defendant’s physicians, testifies: “I don’t think he [plaintiff] could have been injured in the accident sufficiently to have produced any shortening of the limb, which I say was the basis of the other trouble, without having been disabled for some considerable time.” And Dr. Flandrau testified: “The obliquity of the spine, and all that sort of thing, results from the shortening of the limb. It is wholly comnensatory.” And the physicians, in their opinions, seem to indicáte that if the plaintiff had been sufficiently injured in the accident to have pro[306] duced the shortening of his left leg as stated, he would have been immediately and continuously disabled; and the defendant gave evidence from several witnesses tending to establish a declaration made by the plaintiff after the accident that he had not received any injuries of any importance.

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Rowe v. New York Cent. & H. R. Railroad, 31 N.Y.S. 304, 82 Hun 153, 89 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 153, 63 N.Y. St. Rep. 753 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1894).

31 N.Y.S. 304 (Rowe v. New York Cent. & H. R. Railroad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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