Valerii v. Breakwater Co.

84 A. 222, 26 Del. 196, 3 Boyce 196, 1912 Del. LEXIS 19
CourtSuperior Court of Delaware
DecidedFebruary 2, 1912
DocketNo. 54
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 84 A. 222 (Valerii v. Breakwater Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Valerii v. Breakwater Co., 84 A. 222, 26 Del. 196, 3 Boyce 196, 1912 Del. LEXIS 19 (Del. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Rice, J.,

delivering the opinion of the court:

To the first, second, third, fourth, eighth and ninth counts of the plaintiff’s declaration, the -defendant has demurred specially.

In substance the first count in the declaration alleges that the defendant company was at the time of the accident engaged in the business of quarrying stone, in Brandywine Hundred, New Castle County, and that Francesco Valerii, the plaintiff’s intestate, was employed by the defendant as a brakeman on a train of cars, which it used for the purpose of hauling stones in and about and out of its stone quarry, “and it was the duty of said defendant to furnish to the said Francesco Valerii in and about his said business as brakeman, reasonably safe cars and railroad tracks for the same to run on, yet the said defendant did not regard its duty in this behalf, and heretofore, to wit * * * the said defendant negligently and carelessly furnished the said Francesco Valerii in and about his said business of brakeman on the train of cars of said defendant then and there used by the said defendant for the purpose aforesaid, unsafe cars and railroad tracks for the same to run on, and through and by the negligence • and carelessness of the said defendant in this regard, a certain car in a train of cars on which the said Francesco Valerii was then and there riding in the performance of his work as such brakeman, he the said Francesco Valerii, being then and there in the exercise of care and caution on his part, jumped from the said railroad tracks of the said defendant on which the said car was then and there moving and thereby threw the said Francesco Valerii [198]*198from off the said car down to and upon the ground, and the said Francesco Valerii was then and there and thereby struck and hit by the said car and badly crushed,” etc.

The causes of demurrer to this count are:

First. It does not appear therefrom in what particular or particulars the cars and railroad tracks therein mentioned were unsafe.

Second. It does not appear therefrom what caused the said car to jump from the said railroad tracks, or that the same was in any way due to the negligence of the defendant.

Additional causes:

It does not appear therefrom that the car upon which Valerii was riding was unsafe, or that the track upon which the said car was being moved was unsafe.

It does not appear therefrom what relation there was between the unsafe cars and tracks, and accident to the plaintiff.

Counsel for the plaintiff, in support of this count, and the other counts demurred to, cites a number of cases, among them being Hunter v. P., B. & W. R. R. Co., 1 Boyce 5, 75 Atl. 962, and Campbell v. Walker, 1 Boyce 580, 76 Atl. 476.

While we believe that the tests and principles of pleading applied in those cases have very strong bearing upon this case, yet we think the also recent case of Braunstein v. People’s Ry. Co., 1 Boyce 310, 77 Atl. 738, to be more directly in point in respect to the facts pleaded and the manner of pleading them.

In the case of Hunter v. P., B. & W. R. R., the court said, in quoting from the case of King v. W. & N. C. Ry. Co., 1 Penn. 452, 41 Atl. 975: “Applying the same test, the first count in the declaration is manifestly insufficient.” By referring to the King case, we find the test applied to be this rule quoted from 2 Chitty’s Pleading, 231, “A general statement of facts, which admits of almost any proof to sustain it is objectionable,” which quotation follows the statement of other general rules, to the effect that “it is not sufficient to state the result or conclusion of fact, arising from circumstances of the case not set forth in the declaration,” and also, “it is the purpose of pleading to reasonably and fairly disclose the facts of the case, and not to conceal them. Pleadings [199]*199should not be used as the means of concealing the facts by vague and general terms. Time, place and circumstances, so far as relied on and within the knowledge of the party, must be specified; and that, too, with reasonable fullness and fairness. Any other rule would make pleading the medium of concealing the facts of the case, except so far as might be necessary to bring it within the least possible legal certainty.”

From a casual reading of our cases it might appear in some instances that the court has been somewhat lax in applying the above statement as to the certainty with which it is necessary for the plaintiff to plead his case, but we think after a careful study of the decisions we may safely arrive at the conclusion that any seeming generality in pleading the plaintiff’s cause of action has been permitted by the court either on account of the very nature of the accident itself, or the fact that it was impossible for the plaintiff to declare with more particularity or certainty on account of the peculiar facts and circumstances surrounding the accident.

For determination of the question “whether the allegations in the present count describe such an accident ,or a statement of facts as will bring it within either of the exceptions mentioned,” we need only refer to the Braunstein case.

The fifth count in that case, which was held insufficient, alleged in substance, “that the defendant * * * so carelessly, improperly, negligently and unskillfully repaired and maintained the trucks and running parts of said passenger car, and has so carelessly * * * allowed the same to be and become unsafe and defective that while negligently and carelessly then and there running and driving said passenger car at a dangerous rate of speed at a certain curve * * * then and there ran off the track,” etc.

The court in the case said: “The first cause of demurrer to the fifth count is that it does not appear in what respect the trucks and running parts of said car were unsafe, etc. We do not think the phrase ‘the trucks and running parts’ in said count is restricted in its meaning to wheels and axles as suggested, but that it may very properly embrace more like the expression [200]*200‘defective brakes and other appliances,’ and we think the averment is too general.”

Jl] Thus, as it has been held that the allegation of negligence in the Braunstein case is too general, we must hold the less particular allegation of negligence in this count to be too general.

For the reasons given in holding the allegation of negligence in the first count too general, we must also hold as insufficient the allegation in the second count that the defendant “negligently and carelessly furnished * * * unsafe cars.”

The third count differs from the first two counts only in that “unsafe tracks” were alleged to have been negligently furnished by the defendant.

As we have already held that statements of “unsafe cars and railroad tracks” and “unsafe cars” are too general, we can see very little to distinguish from them the very general statement “unsafe tracks,” and it must be evident that such a general statement of the facts and circumstances of the plaintiff’s claim cannot be of such certain and particular character as the court in the case of Campbell v. Walker, 1 Boyce 580, 76 Atl. 475, stated was necessary for the plaintiff to exercise in this state in a declaration of this character.

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Bluebook (online)
84 A. 222, 26 Del. 196, 3 Boyce 196, 1912 Del. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/valerii-v-breakwater-co-delsuperct-1912.