Tampa & Gulf Coast Railroad v. Lynch

108 So. 560, 91 Fla. 375

Opinions

Per Curiam.

— In an action for personal injuries, damages in the sum of $25,000.00 were claimed. Verdict and judgment for the full amount were rendered and the defendant took writ of error.

It appears that the plaintiff apd a companion who was driving, were in an automobile going for'two young ladies to take them to a dance, that at a grade crossing over which plaintiff had heretofore passed and knew of its' location and conditions, the automobile was struck by the locomotive of defendant’s passing train after dark, and plaintiff was injured.

The inherent nature of, and the fair inferences drawn from, the evidence' taken as a whole, clearly indicates negligence on the part of the occupants of the automobile who were jointly pursuing a common mission of pleasure, and if the statutory presumption of negligence by the .defendant'that flows from an injury caused by the running of a railroad train was not overcome by the evidence, it is clear that the verdict rendered was not warranted by the evidence, therefore the judgment is reversed for a new trial.

Whitfield, P. J.', and Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur; Brown, C. J., and Ellis and Strum, J. J., concur in the Opinion.