Southern Pac. Co. v. Hall

100 F. 760, 41 C.C.A. 50, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4307
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided February 5, 1900·No. No. 549·Published·Cited by 7 cases

Opinion

HAWLEY, District Judge.

This action was brought to recover damages for injuries received by the defendant in error, alleged to have been occasioned by the negligence and carelessness of the plaintiff in error, on February 3, 1896, at the city of Redding, Cal. It appears from the pleadings and evidence that at said time the plaintiff in error maintained and used in said city a water tank or hydrant, from which it took water to use in the management of its railroad, and which was situated about three feet distant from the track upon which it run its train of cars in the conveying of passengers into and from the city; that this tank or hydrant was inclosed in. a wooden box or frame about two feet wide, three feet long, and two feet deep; that the said box or frame was imbedded in the ground, the top thereof being even with the surface of the ground, [762] and was provided with a wooden lid or cover about two feet high and three feet long, which was used for the purpose of covering said tank. The answer admits the maintaining and use of the hydrant, but denies that “any tank or hydrant was maintained or used at any point where passengers arriving iii said city alighted from the cars of said defendant.” The defendant in error on the date mentioned was a passenger upon the train of the plaintiff in error from the town of Anderson to the city of Bedding. The complaint alleges:

“That when said train arrived in said city he lawfully alighted therefrom -after it had stopped for the purpose of permitting the passengers to alight from the cars of said train. That plaintiff, after alighting from a car of said train, accidentally stepped into said box or hole, which had negligently and carelessly been left, uncovered by said defendant, its agents and servants, and was thereby without any fault or carelessness on his part, thrown back upon the track of said railroad and under said cars; and, said train starting-forward while being managed and conducted by said defendant and its agents and servants, a wheel of one of the 'cars of said train ran over and crushed ■plaintiff’s foot, and his said foot was so badly injured thereby that it became and was necessary to amputate the same, and he then and thereby sustained a severe and permanent shock to his nervous system, and was put to a great expense in the employment of a physician, and has been wholly deprived of earning wages by manual labor for his support. * * * That the injuries so received by him at the time and place aforesaid are permanent in character.”

Tbe court, in its charge to the jury upon material points, among other things, said:

“(1) To support the plaintiff's action in this case, it must appear that the defendant was guilty of negligence, and that this negligence was, the proximate cause of the injury to plaintiff. * * * It was the duty of the defendant railway company to keep its premises, the approaches to its depots and yards, and such places as it permitted the traveling public to use, in good order and in safe condition; and if you believe from the evidence that the water box and place was not safe (that is to say, if you believe from the evidence that the water box was left uncovered, or in such a position as to render it unsafe for persons getting on or off the cars of defendant at the time in the complaint alleged), and if you find that it was in such dangerous or unsafe condition, and that the plaintiff, alighting from the car, fell therein, and that he -was, by reason of such dangerous and unsafe condition of said box, and the fall therein, injured and damaged, then your verdict should be for the plaintiff for the amount which you find the plaintiff to have suffered in damages. But, if you find as a fact that the immediate and proximate cause of tiie injury to plaintiff was the negligent or careless manner in -which he alighted from the train of the defendant, then your verdict must be for the defendant.”

To this ¿o objection ivas made or exception taken.

“(2) In arriving at your verdict as to the amount of damages to which the plaintiff should be entitled, if you should find him entitled to any, you should take into consideration the personal injury to the xrlaintiff, the loss of his foot, the loss of his wages, the pain and suffering which he may have endured, and the amount of expense to which he was put by reason of such injury, and render such a verdict as you believe from the evidence to be just under all the circumstances.”

The exception taken to this instruction is confined to the use' of the words “the loss of. his wages.”

There are 43 specific assignments of error. Their discussion may appropriately be brought under two distinct heads, with but few subdivisions : (1) Alleged errors in admission of certain testimony; (2) alleged errors in giving and refusing to give certain instructions.

[763]*7631. With reference to tbe exceptions talcen to the admission of evidence :

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Southern Pac. Co. v. Hall, 100 F. 760, 41 C.C.A. 50, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4307 (9th Cir. 1900).

100 F. 760 (Southern Pac. Co. v. Hall) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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