Southern Indiana Railway Co. v. Davis

69 N.E. 550, 32 Ind. App. 569, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 116
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 15, 1904
DocketNo. 4,340
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 69 N.E. 550 (Southern Indiana Railway Co. v. Davis) 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
Southern Indiana Railway Co. v. Davis, 69 N.E. 550, 32 Ind. App. 569, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 116 (Ind. Ct. App. 1904).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

The appellee was plaintiff below. The Evansville '& Indianapolis Railway- Company owns and operates a railroad running north and south by the town of Elnora, in Daviess county, at which place it maintains a station. The Southern Indiana Railway Company, appellant, owns and operates a railroad running east and Avest from Elnora to Westport, in Decatur county. The latter company uses the former’s Elnora station, which it reaches from the north by means of passing its trains over the north stem of a Y onto the main track of the [571]*571Evansville & Indiaiiapolis Railway Company, thence hacking down to the station, and thence regaining its own track by heading out on the south stem of the Y. On August 24, 1898, as appellant’s passenger-train number one, headed in a northerly direction, was in the act of passing from the Y to the main track of the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company, it collided with the latter’s south-bound locomotive, drawing its passenger-train number thirty-three.

The complaint was in two paragraphs. The first charges the defendant with negligence as follows: “That for the purpose of moving, conducting, and running the locomotives, cars, and trains of the defendant from said town of Elnora to the town of Washington, in the State of Indiana, the defendant the Southern Indiana Railway Company, by an agreement with said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company, has certain track privileges over the right of way and railroad tracks of said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company from the place where the defendant’s switch at Elnora, Indiana, intersects and transfers its locomotives and cars to the' main line of said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company tracks to the town of Washington as aforesaid; that by the rules and regulations adopted and agreed upon by and between the defendant and said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company, it was, at the time herein-before complained of, the duty of the defendant, its agents, engineers, conductors, and other employes, in operating its locomotives, cars, and trains, before it entered upon, the track of the said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company, to stop its locomotives, cars, and trains on said switch, hereinbefore mentioned, and send forward a flagman to prevent the locomotives, ears, and trains that might he upon the said right of way and tracks of the defendant railway company herein from entering’upon the right of way and tracks of the Evansville & Indianapolis Rail[572]*572way Company in violation of the rules governing the track privileges of the defendant company upon the right of way and tracks of the said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company, and for the purpose of giving to the locomotives, cars, and trains of the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company a preference over said tracks of the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company, and for the further purpose of protecting the lives of the employes and the property of said Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company; that the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company trains had right of track inside of yard limits at Elnora; that the defendant negligently and carelessly failed to discharge the alleged duty as above set out, but negligently and carelessly ran its train at the rate of twenty-five miles per hour over said intersection and onto the main track of the Evansville & Indianapolis railroad, and collided with the said train thereon, causing plaintiff’s injury.” The second paragraph is substantially the same as the first, except that it does not allege that the Evansville & Indianapolis train had the right of track. To these two paragraphs of complaint separate demurrers were addressed, which were overruled by the court, and exceptions were reserved by appellant.

The appellant’s answer was in two paragraphs. The first, a general denial. The second sets out the facts of track connection at grade, joint use of track by appellant and the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company between Elnora and Washington, Daviess county, for a period of more than four months, during all of which time appellee was a fireman on the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway and was familiar with said joint use of track, station, and yards. “Rule I. S. I. Railway trains and engines will occupy the main track inside the yard limits at Elnora in time of all trains. Have your train under full control.” Also rule C and marginal rule, as follows: “(0) When tracks of two railroads cross each other, or in any [573]*573way connect at common grade, all trains or engines passing over such, tracks must come to a full stop before reach* ing such crossing. Yard limit signs have been erected at the following points: Overholzen and Lancaster Branch, Worthington, Elnora and Washington. It will not be necessary for any train or engine occupying the main track inside the yard limits to be protected by flagmen except in the time of second-class trains” — were in full force and effect on said date, with full knowledge of appellee. That appellee, with the other employes, disregarded rule C and rule I, and violated the law by running their train at a high rate of speed, to wit, thirty miles per hour inside yard limits at Elnora, without having train under full control, and without coming to a full stop, and without first ascertaining that appellant’s train was approaching the intersection, in full view, on its schedule time, and about to pass out on the Evansville & Indianapolis track, where it had right of way at that time. ' •

The plaintiff filed reply in three paragraphs: The first, a general denial.» The second alleges that the engine, was in the exclusive and full control of the engineer of the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway Company; that he (the appellee) was under complete control and subject to the orders and direction of the engineer and conductor. The third alleges, in substance, that the defendant had for' a period of more than four months been in the habit of sending out a flagman at said point of intersection at the time mentioned, and that because of that fact a custom was established which gave the Evansville & Indianapolis train right of track, and therefore a right to proceed across said intersection without stopping, because said flag was not out. Demurrers to second and third paragraphs of reply were overruled, and exceptions taken.

Upon the trial a verdict was returned in favor of appellee for $4,500, of which sum appellee remitted $1,000 [574]*574and the court rendered judgment for $3,500. A motion for judgment on the facts found in answer to interrogatories submitted to the jury and a motion for a new trial were each overruled, and exceptions taken.

Specifications of the assignment of errors from one to six, inclusive, question the sufficiency of the several paragraphs of the complaint. In the Southern Ind. R. Co. v. Peyton, 157 Ind. 690 (a case growing out of the same collision — Peyton was the engineer and appellee was the fireman on the locomotive on the Evansville & Indianapolis Railway), the questions raised by these specifications are decided adversely to appellant.

The seventh and eighth specifications of error relate to the sufficiency of appellee’s second paragraph of reply, to which a demurrer was overruled. We have set out the substance of the paragraph in question, and the paragraph of answer to which it referred.

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Bluebook (online)
69 N.E. 550, 32 Ind. App. 569, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southern-indiana-railway-co-v-davis-indctapp-1904.