Thomas v. San Pedro, L. A. & S. L. Ry. Co.

170 F. 129, 95 C.C.A. 371, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4676
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 3, 1909
DocketNo. 1,612
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 170 F. 129 (Thomas v. San Pedro, L. A. & S. L. Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thomas v. San Pedro, L. A. & S. L. Ry. Co., 170 F. 129, 95 C.C.A. 371, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4676 (9th Cir. 1909).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts as above). It is assigned as error that the Circuit Court granted defendant’s motion for a nonsuit. This motion was based mainly upon the ground that it ap[131]*131peared from the evidence that the deceased was guilty of contributory negligence in going upon the platform of the car while the train was in motion, in violation of the rules and regulations of the company.

Whether, under the circumstances of the particular case, the injured passenger is guilty of contributory negligence, is generally a question of fact for the jury, “but as the negligence of the defendant in this case and the resulting death- took place in California it is contended by the defendant that the plaintiffs’ right of action rests on the law of that state, and under that law the question was one of law and not of fact.

Section 483 of the Civil Code of California provides:

“Every railroad corporation must furnish, on the inside of the passenger cars, sufficient room and accommodations for all passengers to whom tickets are sold, for any one trip, and for all persons presenting tickets entitling them to travel thereon; and when fare is taken for transporting passengers on any baggage, wood, gravel, or freight car, the same care must be taken and the same responsibility is assumed by the corporation as for passengers on passenger cars.”

Section 484 of the same Code provides:

“Every railroad corporation must have printed and conspicuously posted on the inside of its passenger cars its rules and regulations regarding fare and conduct of its passengers; and in case any passenger is injured on or from the platform of a car, or on any baggage, wood, gravel, or freight car, in violation of such printed regulations, or in violation of positive verbal instructions or injunctions given to such passenger in person or by any officer of the train, the corporation is not responsible for damages for such injuries, unless the corporation failed to comply with the provisions of the i>roceding section.”

It was admitted that the defendant company provided sufficient seats in the smoking car for all passengers using the same, and that its rules and regulations as required by section 484 of the Civil Code were properly posted.

In Mitchell v. Southern Pacific R. R. Co., 87 Cal. 62, 25 Pac. 245, 11 L. R. A. 130, the plaintiff was in the smoking car attached to a train running clown a steep incline leading to the bed of a river on a new and curved track. The car was derailed and overturned, and the plaintiff was injured. He testified that he had gone out upon the platform immediately before the accident in consequence of the fear that some disaster would occur; that he had no sooner reached the platform than the car was overturned and he was thrown upon the ground. The evidence of the defendant tended to show that the plaintiff had been upon the platform some minutes before the accident occurred. There was a question as to the burden of proof resting upon the plaintiff to show defendant’s negligence. The case was submitted to a jury under instructions from the court upon that question, and upon the law relating to the defense that the plaintiff had been guilty of contributory negligence in going upon the platform of the car while the train was in motion. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. In the Supreme Court it was contended by the defendant: First, that the burden of proof was upon the plaintiff to show negligence on the part of the defendant; and, second, that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence. With respect to the first question the court held that the derailment and overturning of the car were undisputed facts, and with the other circumstances the showing was suffi-[132]*132dent to place upon the defendant the burden of proving that the injury was not caused by any want of care on its part. With respect to the second question, the court instructed the jury as follows:

“If you find, from tire evidence, that at the time plaintiff left his seat in the smoking car there was.no imminent peril of life or limb, and no apparent danger, but that such imminent peril of life or limb, or apparent danger, arose after plaintiff took his position on the platform of the smoking car, then plaintiff cannot recover, and your verdict must be for the defendant.”

This instruction was approved by the Supreme Court, and it is upon this instruction that the defendant in this case contends that under the California statute, if a passenger on a railroad train voluntarily goes on the platform of a car while the train is in motion in violation of the rules and regulations of the company, he assumes the risk of the position and cannot recover damages for injuries received. If this were the only instruction upon this phase of the case, the contention of defendant might be accepted as a correct interpretation of the statute by the Supreme Court; but the trial court gave other instructions-which were also approved by the Supreme Court; among others, the following:

“If you believe that tbe plaintiff went upon tbe platform under a reasonable apprehension of a derailment of tbe train, and for the purpose of jumping off in case of an accident, arid while there for that purpose was injured by tbe overturning of the car, I instruct you that bis being on tbe platform under these circumstances was not riding or standing on the platform within the meaning of the rule which prohibits such riding or standing.”

The court further instructed the jury:

“If the danger of overturning was imminent, and the plaintiff, acting upon the instinct of self-preservation, placed himself in the position which appeared to him, as a reasonable man, to be most safe, and made such choice as a person of ordinary prudence and care placed in the same situation might have made, this does not constitute negligence on the part of the plaintiff. The peril of remaining in the car or going upon the platform is to be judged by the circumstances as they then appeared, and not by the result.”

From these instructions to - the jury it appears that the question whether the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence did not depend upon the admitted fact that he had gone upon the platform of the car in' violation of the rules and regulations of the company, but whether in so doing he acted under all the circumstances with ordinary care and prudence; and the Supreme Court approved the instructions of the trial court under which this question was submitted to the jury for determination. Furthermore, the Supreme Court refers with approval to the case of Buel v. New York Central R. R. Co., 31 N. Y. 319, 88 Am. Dec. 271. In that case the plaintiff seeing an approaching train, left his seat in the car and rushed to the door to escape from the danger of an impending collision between the train he was on and the approaching train. The other passengers neither saw nor had notice of the impending danger, remained in their seats, and were uninjured. The question was whether the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in going upon the platform. The court refers to the facts that justified his action, but says:

[133]*133“At all events, it was for tlie jury and not the court to say whether plaintiffs conduct, in view of the circumstances, was rash or imprudent or amounted to negligence.”

Tlie court further says:

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Bluebook (online)
170 F. 129, 95 C.C.A. 371, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4676, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomas-v-san-pedro-l-a-s-l-ry-co-ca9-1909.