Vreeland v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.

60 N.W. 542, 92 Iowa 279
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 20, 1894
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 60 N.W. 542 (Vreeland v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vreeland v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., 60 N.W. 542, 92 Iowa 279 (iowa 1894).

Opinion

Given, J.

[281]*2811 [280]*280I. Appellant’s only claim in argument is that the court erred in overruling the motion for a verdict, and in not setting aside the verdict and granting a' new trial, on the grounds that the verdict was contrary to the law and evidence. As all the questions presented in the motion for a verdict are involved in. the motion for a new trial on the grounds stated above, we need only inquire whether the court erred in not granting a new trial on those grounds. No complaint is made in argument of the instructions, and, therefore, they must be taken as the law of the case, and the question is whether the verdict is in harmony with the law .as therein stated, and with the evidence. The evidence shows without conflict the following facts: At Delmar Junction, where this accident occurred, the defendant’s Chicago and Council Bluffs tracks run substantially in an east and west direction. The defendant’s Maquoketa and Davenport branch runs in nearly a northwest to southeast direction. Defendant has a Y in the angle of the crossing, connecting these two tracks. The depot building is situated in the southeast angle of the crossing. A track of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company approaches said branch track on the north side thereof, south of the depot, and runs parallel therewith to near the depot, crosses said branch track to the south side thereof, and thence northwest, parallel with said branch, for some distance, across said Chicago and Council Bluffs track. At, and for a long time previous to, this accident, an accommodation train of the defendant’s, carrying freight and passengers, arriving daily from the northwest, bound for Davenport, stood upon the Y for about two hours before starting southward. When time to start, it was [281]*281backed out upon said branch track, and then moved southeast, to the depot building, where it • stopped to receive passengers, its time for starting being 8 p. m. On the occasion of this accident, this train, consisting of an engine, some freight cars, caboose, and a passenger car, was moved in the usual manner. The train was moving on a slightly down grade, without steam, at about three miles per hour, with a headlight burning and bell sounding, and with the intention of stopping the rear of the train at the depot building. The deceased was in the employ of the defendant as wiper of an engine used in construction work, that remained at Delmar Junction on a side track over night, at a point about two hundred feet southwest of the depot building, and west of the Chicago & Northwestern track and of defendant’s branch track. On the evening of June 27, 1891, as said train' was approaching the depot in the manner already stated, deceased, with a grain door on his back, such as is put on the inside of the door of freight cars to keep the grain from running out, was walking southward on the Chicago & Northwestern track. He was seen by the fireman of defendant’s engine, when fifty or sixty feet ahead of the engine, to step ofl the Northwestern track onto the defendant’s track, ahead of the engine, where he continued to walk until struck by the engine and run over by the right-hand or west wheels of the engine. The evidenee shows beyond question that the deceased wás guilty of negligence. Having been employed at that station for some time, he was familiar with the tracks, and knew the time for the passing of that train. He stated immediately after the accident that he knew the train was coming, that he heard the fireman call, but thought he was on the Northwestern track. “Thought I was all right. Didn’t pay any attention.” The court submitted to the jury this single question: “Were the servants of defendant in charge [282]*282of said engine negligent in that they did not avoid injury to said Yreeland after his presence upon the track was discovered?” The court also instructed the jury “that there is no evidence that Yreeland’s presence upon defendant’s track was known, prior to the accident, to anyone except the fireman on the engine which struck him.” Plaintiff contends in argument that the engineer must also have seen him. The engineer testifies positively that although in his place, on the right-hand side of the engine, and looking ahead, he did not see Yreeland, or know that he was on the track, before the accident, and he is confirmed in this by the position of himself and Yreeland at the time. This instruction of the court is in accord with the evidence, and reduces the inquiry to whether, the fireman was guilty of negligence.

[283]*2832 [282]*282II. The court instructed to the effect that the fireman had a right to presume that the deceased would leave the track, and that he was not required to take steps to stop the train until it was reasonably apparent to him, from the acts and conduct of deceased, that deceased was not aware of his danger, or paying any attention to the approach of the train; that, when the fireman saw Yreeland on the track, he was not sailed upon to speak to the engineer, or warn him of his presence, .nor to take any steps to check or stop the train, until it became reasonably apparent to him that Yreeland was ignorant of or inattentive to the approach of the train, and in danger from the train; that, as soon as it became reasonably apparent that Yreeland was in danger of injury, it was the duty of the fireman to warn the engineer of the fact, and the duty of the engineer to use all reasonable efforts to stop the train, and avert injury. The jury was instructed as follows: “In this case the evidence shows that the warning addressed by the1 fireman to the engineer was not heard by the latter, but that he did hear the words [283]*283addressed by tbe fireman to Vreeland, and that, surmising danger to some person upon, tbe track therefrom, he at once made all proper, reasonable efforts to stop said train. This will be sufficient to exonerate the defendant from all liabilities, provided you find that the fireman’s warning to Vreeland was given in time; that is, if it was given as soon as it became reasonably apparent to the fireman that Vreeland was not going to leave the track, but was in danger of being struck by the engine. If you find that the fireman failed to give timely warning, as I have defined it, to the engineer, then you must find defendant negligent. To ascertain when it was that the fireman first knew, or reasonably should have known, that deceased was in danger, you may and should consider the employment of deceased, the place where the accident occurred, the time and manner of the usual operation of trains there, the extent of deceased’s knowledge of how said trains were operated, the question of whether the fireman knew or believed it was deceased whom he saw upon the track, the rate of speed at which the train which struck said Vreeland was running at the time, and the apparent conduct and manner of deceased from the time the fireman first saw him walking upon the track of the Northwestern railroad.”

3 The engineer and fireman were the only witnesses to what occurred at and immediately before the accident, and the fireman is the only witness as to when deceased was seen, and as to what he did. They being the only witnesses of the occurrence, the plaintiff necessarily relies upon their testimony.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 N.W. 542, 92 Iowa 279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vreeland-v-chicago-milwaukee-st-paul-railway-co-iowa-1894.