St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Brummett

143 S.W.2d 555, 201 Ark. 53, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 301
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 14, 1940
Docket4-6041
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 143 S.W.2d 555 (St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Brummett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Brummett, 143 S.W.2d 555, 201 Ark. 53, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 301 (Ark. 1940).

Opinion

Mehaeey, J.

On January 31, 1939, appellee instituted this suit ' against the appellant alleging that she was injured by the negligence of.appellant on September 28,1936. Appellee was in business and the appellant had placed a car on a switch adjacent to appellee’s warehouse, which car was being unloaded, having been placed there for that purpose, and the stage plank was placed with one end in the railroad car and the other end extending into the building occupied by appellee. While the car was being unloaded a coupling was made. One of the employees of appellant, a member of the switching crew, came to the door of the warehouse and said he had to move the car that was being unloaded. The appellee immediately took hold of the handles of the truck upon which the plank rested in the warehouse for the purpose of assisting her employees in removing the stage plank from the car so that it could be moved safely; that while appellee had hold of the truck handles appellant’s servants in charge of the switch engine caused it and the cars connected to it to strike against .the car she was assisting to unload and knock the plank. against the appellee with great violence, throwing her to one side a distance of several feet, severely bruising and wounding her; that it gave her severe headaches for a long time followed by extreme stiffness, rigors, dizziness and high blood pressure, and causing her to be confined to her bed at intervals- ever since; that she was immediately confined to her bed for two months after the accident; her nerves were so shocked that she could not sleep for many months thereafter without taking sedatives; she still suffers constantly from traumatic neurosis, hypertension, and pinched spinal nerves caused by said shock;.her blood pressure runs as high as 225, and she has severe pain in her neck and back and extreme dizziness upon turning her head; that her injuries were caused by negligence of appellant’s servants in backing the switch engine and train into said car while she was attempting to remove the plank; that her injuries are permanent and she will continue to suffer therefrom throughout her entire life.

Appellant filed answer' denying each and every material allegation of the complaint, and pleading ap-pellee’s contributory negligence.

An amendment was filed to the complaint alleging that it was the duty of appellant’s employees to keep a constant lookout for persons and property, and that appellant’s employees operating the switch engine neglected and failed to keep such lookout at the time she was injured, and if it had been kept her peril would have been discovered in time to have avoided the injury by the exercise of ordinary and reasonable care.

There was a verdict and judgment for the appellee in the sum of $5,000; motion for new trial was filed and overruled, and the case is here on appeal.

The evidence showed that appellee had lived in Pine Bluff all of her life, and that her place of business is located at 216-228 Chestnut Street; she is a partner in the business; she did the buying and some ‘of the selling; was assistant manager and she did the checking of the freight in and out; she either walked or rode to her work; has driven a car for 27 years; was always able to drive before she was hurt and has driven some since; the partnership has two warehouse doors on the track, and habitually uses the nearest — the east one; door is seven or eight feet in width; in conveying merchandise from the car into the warehouse they used two trucks; had a crew of about four, one in the house, one in the car, and one on each truck; takes two days, as a rule, to unload those cars; the stage was placed in the usual way; it was the custom in unloading cars to raise the edge of the stage, the end that stays in the warehouse, and place a hand truck under it; the truck has two wheels and handles back at the end; two men hold the handles and the other man is supposed, to push the truck under the end of it and raise that end; appellee understood that the name of the man who asked her to move the stage was Dobbins, the switchman; the switchman put his head in the door and saw the stage in position showing that they were working on the car; this man told them to get the board out of there; appellee told him he would have to wait until she could get another man; they usually stand there until the car is cleared; when witness told the switch-man he would have to wait, the switchman turned to a boy and told him to catch hold of the board; the end of the stage was raised and witness pushed the. truck under; switchman was standing in a position where he could easily see in the warehouse; appellee was looking down at what she was doing;,she had.to take hold of the handles; the board was heavy; her hands were about 24 inches from the floor; her he.ad was down and the first thing she knew she was over by the door; was jerked over there by the ’operation of the engine; the engine struck before they ever lifted the stage; she felt .like she had been in an explosion and like her arms had been pulled out the sockets, and her neck was stiff. Appellee then described her injuries and the treatment.

Dr. Luck and Dr. Oausey testified about appellee’s injuries. '

W. M. Kincannon, Ona Hampton, Glenn A. Rails-back, Lawrence Sims, I)r. B. G. Campbell, and Dr. W. C. Campbell testified for appellee. Several witnesses testified for appellant.

Appellant’s first contention is that there is not sufficient evidence of negligence to support the verdict. It is undisputed that the appellee was in business there, and had received a car of freight which was placed adjacent to her warehouse to be unloaded; that she was unloading it, and in order to do so, she placed a plank from the door of the car to the door of the warehouse; while she was thus engaged in unloading her freight, a switchman came to her and told her to take the plank down; that they were going to move the engine; she immediately proceeded to carry out this order, and while she was trying to remove the plank, appellant’s engine struck the car and injured appellee. The switchman testified that it was his duty to give this order, and that he did not look back or signal the engine. It was the duty of the appellant, when appellee was ordered to remove the plank, to give her time to remove it and get out of danger. There is no evidence in the record showing that they gave her any time or any warning, but while she was attempting to comply with appellant’s order, the engine was run against the car, and there is no evidence that there was any lookout kept.

In support of his contention, the appellant cites De Queen & Eastern Rd. Co. v. Pigue, 135 Ark. 499, 205 S. W. 888. In that case the court said: “The car was moved without any signal or warning to those engaged in unloading the freight from it. It is well settled in this state that it is the duty of the carrier to. exercise ordinary care in moving its ears to prevent injury to owners of freight and their employees rightfully engaged in loading or unloading cars.”

Appellant also calls attention to and relies on Mo. & N. A. Rd. Co. v. Duncan, 104 Ark. 409, 148 S. W. 647. The court in that case copied with approval from 3 Elliott on Railroads, § 1265c, as follows: “Shippers and consignees of freight on railroad premises for the purpose of loading and unloading cars are properly there .... and the railroad company is hound to use reasonable care to avoid injuring them while so engaged.

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Bluebook (online)
143 S.W.2d 555, 201 Ark. 53, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-southwestern-railway-co-v-brummett-ark-1940.