Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Juneman

71 F. 939, 18 C.C.A. 394, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2644
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedDecember 3, 1895
DocketNo. 397
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 71 F. 939 (Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Juneman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas & P. Ry. Co. v. Juneman, 71 F. 939, 18 C.C.A. 394, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2644 (5th Cir. 1895).

Opinion

SPEER, District Judge.

Minnie Juneman, the plaintiff, brought her action for damages against the Texas & Pacific Railway Company. She alleged that the defendant company was engaged on the 20th of April, 1898, in transporting large numbers of wild cattle. On that day she was walking in the city of Ft Worth, Tex., on a public street crossing the track of the railroad. While on the right of way, she was attacked by a vicious and dangerous steer, which the employés of the defendant company had, in a negligent and careless manner, permitted to escape from a car of wild cattle, and to run at large. She was knocked down by this animal. Her right elbow was dislocated. She received a severe contusion and abrasion on the ear, and the lower extremity of her spinal column was contused and broken. Her injuries are permanent, and give great and constant pain, and her ability to earn a livelihood has been greatly impaired. She is a widow, with several children dependent upon her, and is herself largely dependent upon her own work for a livelihood. She received other injuries of a painful character, for which she was at the time of the trial under treatment, but from which she will probably recover, and also suffered intensely from freight, nervous shock, and prostration.

The Texas & Pacific Railway Company defend this action mainly upon the following grounds: Denying that the plaintiff was injured in the manner described, although a partial effort was made to show that she provoked the steer by an ineffectual attempt to throw a stick or stone at it. The principal ground of defense relied upon is that the company had a contract with one Henry Campbell, a colored man, who undertook to take charge of and dispose of all dead and injured animals at its stockyards; that he was not in the employ of the defendant, but was an independent contractor; that, on the day of the injury, they did deliver to Campbell the steer which attacked the plaintiff; that Campbell took possession and control of the' animal for the purpose of removing it to the dumping grounds, and thereafter the defendant had no further concern with it, and was and is wholly irresponsible for any injury it may have inflicted. There are other 'grounds of defense which are not regarded as material.

At the trial the defendant requested that a number of special instructions be given to the jury, and among them the following:

“The court instructs the jury that it appears from the evidence that the 'animal which injured plaintiff was one which had arrived at Fort Worth, and had been left in the cars by the employés of the defendant company at the stock yards as an animal crippled so badly that it was impracticable to ship it further, and of no value. It further appears from the testimony that this animal was delivered to one Henry Campbell, who had a contract with defendant to take charge of and carry away all animals of this character, and that said Campbell unloaded said animal for the purpose of taking it away. From these facts, and under the law, the defendant would not be liable for any negligence of th.e said Campbell while engaged in hauling the animals away after delivered to him, and you will therefore find a verdict in favor of the defendant.”- - - • .• ••• ■

[941]*941The instructions were all declined, and the court charged the jury as follows;

“In this case the plaintiff charges that, wnile she was walking along one of the public streets of Fort Worth, a large and vicious steer attacked and injured her; that this steer was one of a number of wild steers which defendant had in its charge, and was transporting through B’ort Worth, Texas; and that defendant, knowing the vicious character of said steer, turned him loose in, and allowed him to run on, the streets of B’ort Worth; and that such negligence was ilie cause of her injuries. She says that>her right elbow was bruised and dislocated, and her left ear was contused and abraded, and the lower extremities of her spinal column were broken and contused, by the attack of said steer. She says that, the injury to her right arm is permanent; that it is still, and always will be so, and of little use to plaintiff; that said injury to her ear is permanent and that her hearing is permanently impaired; that the said injury to her spinal column is permanent, and gives her con-stunt pain; that her ability to work and earn a living has been permanently impaired by said injuries, inflicted on her by said steer, — for all of which she sa.es she lias been damaged in the sum of $15,000, for which she asks judgii)i nt. Alie aiso says that her womb was injured by the attack of said steer, and thar she has suffered greatly, mentally and physically, by reason of her said injuries.
“(2) Defendant denies all the charges of plaintiff.
‘ ■(-■!) ithe jury believe from the evidence that the steer which injured plaintiff was in charge of the defendant, and that it iurned it loose in the city of Fort Worth, and that it injured plaintiff, as alleged, when she was on a public street running across defendant's railway track, then you will find for plaintiff the sum you think she is entitled to under the evidence, not to exceed $15,000, unless, under instructions hereinafter given, you And for defendant.
• (4) The negligence of defendant must have been the proximate cause of plaintiff's injuries, to enable her to recover in this cause. If defendant, through its employes, suffered said steer to be at large, and such act by the defendant was negligence on its part, and was the real cause of the injuries to plaintiff, then, in law, such negligence on the part of defendant would be the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries. Was there negligence on the part of defendant in suffering said steer to run at large. Defendant was chargeable with such cáre as an ordinary prudent man would have used under the eircumkifinees in keeping said steer from going at large in the city of Ifort Worth. Any less care on its part would be negligence, and the amount of care indicated, if used by the railroad, would save it from responsibility. If it, occurs to you that such injuries as were inflicted on plaintiff were unusual and seldom occur, that fact will cut no figure in the case if you find that defendant was negligent, as indicated above, in suffering said steer to be at large.
“(5) The arrangement with Campbell to carry off dead and wounded cattle did not constitute him a contractor in such sense as should relieve the defendant from responsibility, if any attached, under the facts of this case and the foregoing charges.”

The jury found for the plaintiff damages in the sum of $5,500, but afterwards site remitted $1,500, and judgment was taken for $4,000, with interest and costs. The defendant moved in the court below for a new trial, and, by writ of error, brought the cause before this court. There are numerous assignments of error, but since it is evident from the able and elaborate brief of counsel for the plaintiff in error, that they rely chiefly upon the contention that Campbell, charged with the custody of maimed and dead cattle, should bear the burden of responsibility for the injuries plaintiff has sustained, and since other grounds do not, in our judgment, suffice for a reversal of the action of the circuit court, we will discuss that briefly.

[942]*942Campbell testifies as follows:

“I am a contractor with the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, and haul off dead stock from the Texas & Pacific stock yards.

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Bluebook (online)
71 F. 939, 18 C.C.A. 394, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-p-ry-co-v-juneman-ca5-1895.