St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Graham

102 S.W. 700, 83 Ark. 61, 1907 Ark. LEXIS 11
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 13, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 102 S.W. 700 (St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Graham) 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. Graham, 102 S.W. 700, 83 Ark. 61, 1907 Ark. LEXIS 11 (Ark. 1907).

Opinion

Hile, C, J.,

(after stating the facts.)

1. The first question presented is as to the right of a foreign administrator to maintain such an action in this State. This is an action founded upon Lord Campbell’s Act, sections 6289 and 6290 of Kirby’s Digest. The argument is made that a foreign administrator can recover in .this State only for sums which would be assets for the payment of debts, and Fairchild v. Hagel, 54 Ark. 61, is relied upon. But that decision can not be taken to mean anything beyond the law as applied to the facts therein. It was dealing with a foreign administrator seeking to recover lands in this State, and what was said of that action was ‘well said; but the decision does not apply to a state of facts where recovery is sought in a personal action by a foreign administrator for .the benefit of the next of kin. The administrator in the Hagel case could not recover because an Arkansas administrator bringing a similar suit could not have recovered. The statute gave .the foreign administrator no greater power than the home administrator, but did give him the same power to maintain suit. This question was fully considered by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Dennick v. Railroad, 103 U. S. 11. While there is some difference in the adjudications on this subject, the reasoning of Mrs Justice Miller, speaking for the court in that case, presents the better position. It was likewise held in the St. Louis, 1. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Cleere, 76 Ark. 377, that a foreign administrator could sue and recover under Lord Campbell's Act for injury in this State. It is true that that point was no.t pressed in argument, nor specifically considered by the court, but it was necessarily involved in the question which was considered: that is, whether the marriage of a foreign administratrix terminated her right as administratrix to maintain suit in the State.

2. It is insisted that there was no evidence of negligence of the appellant, and that the court erred in submitting -that question to the jury. The evidence that Luhrsen was killed by the running of a train gave rise to a presumption of negligence against the railroad company, casting upon it the burden to establish that constant lookout was kept; and the court so instructed the jury in the 7th instruction. This question was recently fully examined by this court in a case similar to this one, St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Standifer, 81 Ark. 276.

This lookout must be kept in the yards of the company as well as on other parts of the track, and is for the benefit of employees of the company as well as others. Little Rock & Hot Springs W. Rd. Co. v. McQueeney, 78 Ark. 22; Kansas City S. Ry. Co. v. Morris, 80 Ark. 528.

The evidence on behalf of appellant is not sufficient for the court -to say as a matter of law that this presumption is overcome, even if there were no evidence on behalf of appellee tending to establish negligence. The testimony of appellant is that there was a brakeman posted on the tender with a lantern, which cast its rays not exceeding thirty feet, and that, owing to such light, he could not have seen beyond that distance, and that the train running at the speed at which it was running could not have been stopped short of fifty-five or sixty feet. This evidence on behalf of appellant alone presented a question of fact to the jury as to whether an efficient lookout was being kept. If the operatives of the train circumscribe the vision of the lookout watchman by a lantern, and do not run its trains so slowly that it could stop within the vision of the watchman, then a question of fact is presented as to whether or not the lookout statute has been violated.

The evidence of appellee likewise presented a question -for the consideration of the jury, as to whether the appellant was guilty of negligence. Mr. Carter testified that he and his companion could have been seen in their velocipede for 250 feet before they were struck, by a man of ordinary vision, without any light, and if there was an ordinary headlight they ¡could have seen 400 feet. The court sent this question to the jury under proper instruction — number 2 — which is set out in the margin.

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Bluebook (online)
102 S.W. 700, 83 Ark. 61, 1907 Ark. LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-southwestern-railway-co-v-graham-ark-1907.