Watts v. Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad

104 N.E. 42, 61 Ind. App. 51, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 174
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided February 4, 1914·No. No. 8,085·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Shea, J.

This action was brought by appellant as administrator of the estate of Philander Claw-son, deceased, against appellee to recover damages on account of decedent’s death caused by the locomotive and cars of appellee. Briefly, the facts appearing from the complaint are that on April 11, 1908, between four and five o’clock p. m., decedent was walking on and along the track of appellee, within the city limits of the city of Attica, Fountain County, Indiana, and at that timé was in an intoxicated condition. He had walked to a point near the southerly corporation limit of said city, when he fell down or lay down on appellee’s track between the rails, and was unable to arise and get away from such dangerous place. While lying there a passenger train of appellee going south ran over him' and killed him. Decedent was a strong, able-bodied man, forty-nine years old, capable of earning three dollars per day, and left surviving him his widow and five children, the oldest eleven years, for whose benefit -appellant brought this action. A trial of the issues submitted to the jury resulted in á verdict and judgment for appellee, railroad company, and against appellant for costs. The only error assigned is the overruling of appellant’s motion for a new trial. The alleged causes therein set out are based wholly on the instructions given in the cause, to which proper exceptions were saved.

1. [54]*542. [53] It is contended first on behalf -of appellant that there is a clear conflict between that part of instruction No. 14 given by the court at appellant’s request reading as follows: “Hence if you find from the evidence in this cause that the defendant violated said ordinance by running the train which killed said Clawson, at a rate of speed faster than ten (10) miles per hour, within the corporate limits of said city, and find that that [54] excessive speed was the proximate cause of the hilling of said Clawson, then your verdict should be for the plaintiff in such an amount as you deem to have been proved by the evidence”, and instruction No. 11, given at the request of appellee, which reads as follows: “The mere running of a train at a rate of speed in excess of that limited by a municipal ordinance is not actionable negligence in favor of a trespasser, and if, in this case you find that plaintiff’s decedent was a trespasser, and if you further find that the only negligent act of the defendant, its officers, agents and servants was the running of its train through the city of Attica at a higher rate of speed than was permitted by its ordinance then your verdict should be for the defendant.” These two instructions are clearly in conflict, and could have no other result than to be confusing, as the principle was one of vital import to the jury in considering the evidence in the case, and could not be held to be harmless. Instruction No. 14 given at the request of appellee is criticised because of the following language: “It does not appear that decedent was upon any street or highway or any crossing, or place where he had the right to be.” The question whether decedent was upon a public street at the time of his injury and death was one of the controverted facts in the case, and for that reason it is insisted that the court invaded the province of the jury in using the language above quoted. An examination of the record discloses that appellant’s contention in this respect is true; that this was one of the controverted questions, evidence was heard, and the jury was instructed upon this point, so it is clear that the court invaded the province of the jury, and the instruction is erroneous.

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Watts v. Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, 104 N.E. 42, 61 Ind. App. 51, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 174 (Ind. Ct. App. 1914).

104 N.E. 42 (Watts v. Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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