Sherwood v. Rieck

104 Ill. App. 368, 1902 Ill. App. LEXIS 821
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 16, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 104 Ill. App. 368 (Sherwood v. Rieck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sherwood v. Rieck, 104 Ill. App. 368, 1902 Ill. App. LEXIS 821 (Ill. Ct. App. 1902).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Freeman

delivered the opinion of the court.

It is first contended by appellant’s attorneys that the “ third additional count of the declaration is insufficient to sustain any judgment whatever.” At the close of the evidence, appellant moved the court, in writing, to instruct the jury to find a verdict of not guilty as to each count of the declaration. This motion was granted as to all except the third additional count, and the jury were instructed accordingly. As to that count the motion was denied, and it is contended that in denying the motion and refusing to instruct the jury to disregard that third additional count the court erred.

It is provided in the practice act (R. S., Chap. 110, Sec. 51), that “ if one or more of the counts in a declaration be faulty, the defendant may apply to the court to instruct the jury to disregard such faulty count or counts.” This was the practice pursued in the case before us. The count in question, after stating that the machine and the surroundings were dangerous, charges that it was the duty of the defendant to warn plaintiff of the dangerous character and dangers surrounding the machine, which were unknown to plaintiff, but that defendant carelessly, negligently and improperly failed and neglected so to do, so that by reason of the premises the plaintiff, while engaged in work on the machine and using all due care and caution, “ was pushed or thrown and precipitated upon and against said machine,” and thereby injured. It is evident from examination of this count that no causal connection is therein shown between the alleged failure to warn of what are said to have been the dangerous character and surroundings of the machine, and the alleged force which it is said threw the plaintiff against it and .inflicted the injury. Ho matter how dangerous the machine and surroundings were, if in fact the plaintiff was thrown upon the machine by some outside force, the accident was not the result of the defendant’s negligence in failing to warn that the machine itself was dangerous. It is charged that “ by reason of the premises,” that is, of the alleged dangers, and the failure to warn the plaintiff of them, the latter was thrown on the machine. But how or by what means he was so thrown is not stated; and the fact that a machine would be dangerous to one thrown upon it when it is in motion does not necessarily imply any duty to warn an employe of such a patent fact. Most machinery operated by power would be dangerous to one forced into it, but in such case the forcing cause and not the machine would be the proximate cause of any injuries thereby inflicted. This declaration does not state a single fact, however, indicating in what respect the machine in question was dangerous, nor why or how it became the duty of the defendant to warn plaintiff that he was or might be liable to be “pushed, thrown or precipitated upon and against ” it, nor wherein the plaintiff’s injuries were the result or in any way the consequence of the alleged failure of the defendant to warn him. For all that appears, the plaintiff may have been thrown against the machine by some malicious stranger, whose act the defendant had no reason to anticipate and for which he was in no way responsible, and which would not have been prevented, no matter how frequently or explicitly the plaintiff had been warned of the alleged dangerous character and surroundings of the machine itself. See Hinchliff v. Rudnick, 70 Ill. App. 148-150. In other words, the declaration does not charge, nor state facts which imply, that the accident and the resulting injury were the natural and proximate consequences of the act complained of, namely, the failure to warn the plaintiff of the alleged dangerous character of the machine and surroundings. It rather implies the existence of an intervening efficient cause, which itself became the proximate cause of the injury. C. & E. I. R. R. Co. v. Mochell, 96 Ill. App. 178-182. That the declaration fails to present a state of facts implying any actionable negligence on the part of the defendant is, we think, unquestionable. As is said in C. & A. R. R. Co. v. Clausen, 173 Ill. 100-105, “ It is not sufficient in a declaration to allege that it is the duty of the defendant to do certain things, but the declaration must state facts from which the law will raise the duty. (Ayers v. City of Chicago, 111 Ill. 406.)” In Funk v. Piper, 50 Ill. App. 163-164, Justice Gfary remarks : “ Elementary principles are constantly disregarded in declaring in actions for negligence. Many cases come before us in which the declarations allege simply that it was the duty of the defendant to do the thing described, or that the defendant was negligent in not doing it, in either case without aver- ■ ment or recital of facts or circumstances from which the law will imply, and therefore the court determine, that such duty existed.”

It is urged, however, that any defects in this declaration are cured by the verdict. The rule in this respect, briefly stated, is, that while a verdict will cure a defective statement of a good cause of action, it will not supply the want of a statement of any cause of action at all. In C. & A. R. R. Co. v. Clausen, supra, on page 103, it is said: “ At the common law, independently of any statute, the rule was and is ‘ that where there is any defect, imperfection or omission in any pleading which would have been a fatal objection on demurrer, yet if the issue joined be such as necessarily required on the trial proof of the facts so defectively or imperfectly stated or omitted, and without which it is not to be presumed that either the judge would direct the jury to give or the jury would .have given the verdict, such defect, imperfection or omission is cured by the verdict.’ (1 Chitty’s Pl. 673.) This rule was quoted and approved in Keegan v. Kinnare, 123 Ill. 280, and C. & E. I. R. R. Co. v. Hines, 132 Id. 161. The intendment in such case arises from the joint effect of the verdict and the issue upon which it was given, and if the declaration contains terms sufficiently general to comprehend, by fair and reasonable intendment, any matter necessary to be proved, and without proof of which the jury could not have given the verdict, the want of an express statement of it in the declaration is cured by verdict. Under this rule a verdict will aid a defective statement of a cause of action, but will never assist a statement of a defective cause of action. (1 Chitty PI. 681.) ” We are of opinion that this declaration was not aided by verdict.

It is urged that as the objection goes to the sufficiency of the 'declaration, it should have been taken advantage of on demurrer, and that it is too late to urge it after verdict, citing Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. Co. v. Harwood, 90 Ill. 426. Without stopping to state the very evident distinction between the declaration in that case and that under consideration here, it is sufficient to say, quoting again from the Clausen case, supra (p. 102): “ While the defendant, by pleading over, waived its demurrer and the right to assign error upon the ruling of the court on the demurrer, it did not waive innate and substantial defects in the declaration which would render the declaration insufficient to sustain a judgment.” In the case before us there was no demurrer, but the principle stated is equally applicable. World’s Columbian Exposition v. Republic of France, 91 Federal Rep. 64-69; see also, C. & E. I. R. R. Co. v. Hines, 132 Ill. 161-166.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Keenan v. Wells Bros.
142 Ill. App. 1 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1908)
Owens v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co.
115 Ill. App. 142 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1904)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 Ill. App. 368, 1902 Ill. App. LEXIS 821, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sherwood-v-rieck-illappct-1902.