Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Davis

159 S.E.2d 134, 116 Ga. App. 831, 1967 Ga. App. LEXIS 974
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 1, 1967
Docket43235, 43236
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 159 S.E.2d 134 (Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Western & Atlantic Railroad v. Davis, 159 S.E.2d 134, 116 Ga. App. 831, 1967 Ga. App. LEXIS 974 (Ga. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

Eberhardt, Judge.

The appeal of Western & Atlantic was originally to the Supreme Court on the grounds that that court had jurisdiction by virtue of a constitutional attack made upon certain city ordinances pleaded and relied upon by plaintiff, an issue which falls within the jurisdiction of this court. Shipman v. Johnson, 210 Ga. 174 (78 SE2d 515); Beard v. City of Atlanta, 211 Ga. 25 (2) (83 SE2d 594). Consequently the Supreme Court transferred both cases to this court. Western & Atlantic R. Co. v. Davis, 223 Ga. 622 (157 SE2d 457). Since the judgments appealed from were entered June 15, 1967, the provisions of the Civil Practice Act have no application. Aber[834]*834crombie v. Ledbetter-Johnson Co., 116 Ga. App. 376, 378 (157 SE2d 493).

Both defendants contend in support of their general demurrers that the allegations of the petition, being construed against the pleader, show that the sole proximate cause of the collision and death of plaintiff’s husband was his failure to exercise ordinary care for his own safety. This contention is not meritorious.

We note first of all some confusion on the part of defendants in regard to the physical layout of the scene as alleged in the petition. The petition alleges that decedent was crossing from west to east and that the obstructions caused by defendant’s railroad cars on their switch tracks occurred on the southwest side of the crossing so as to block the view, from the standpoint of persons crossing from the west, of trains approaching from the south. Hence arguments of the defendants based upon the assumption that decedent was crossing from east to west, or that the switch tracks upon which the cars were located were on the east side of the crossing, are not well taken.

The chief difficulty with defendants’ contention, however, is that it calls upon this court to supply facts not alleged in the petition. We accept as a legal truism that this court may neither supply essential allegations for a deficient petition nor may we supply allegations to render a petition defective. Ford Motor Co. v. Williams, 219 Ga. 505 (134 SE2d 32). There is a fundamental difference between a court’s construing a petition against a pleader and drawing unfavorable inferences from the facts pleaded on the one hand, and supplying the facts in the first instance, from which the inferences and conclusions of law are sought to be drawn, on the other. What defendants call upon us to do is in essence to supply an allegation of distance between the switch tracks, where decedent’s vision was obscured, and the main line track of Western & Atlantic, on which the collision occurred. We are then asked to conclude as a matter of law that this was a “sufficient distance” in which decedent could have looked to the south, observed the approaching train, and applied his brakes before reaching Western & Atlantic’s main line track.

[835]*835This case is here on demurrer, and we must take the allegations of the petition as being true. We can not add facts not alleged. The petition alleges that both defendants placed railroad cars on their respective switch tracks on the southwest side of the crossing which obstructed decedent’s view as he approached the crossing from the west so that he could not see trains of either defendant approaching from the south until he was upon the track of the approaching train. This is an allegation of an ultimate fact, and we can not say as a matter of law on demurrer that decedent could have seen the approaching train and stopped short of the main-line track in time to avoid the collision. Callaway v. Pickard, 68 Ga. App. 637 (23 SE2d 564); Reed v. Southern R. Co., 37 Ga. App. 550 (4) (140 SE 921). A cursory reading of Moore v. Seaboard A. L. R. Co., 30 Ga. App. 466 (118 SE 471), Coleman v. Western & A. R., 48 Ga. App. 343 (172 SE 577), with the special concurrence, dissent, and supplementary opinion on motion for rehearing, and Peeples v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 37 Ga. App. 87 (139 SE 85), cited by defendants, will reveal that they are of no aid to them on this point under the allegations of this petition.

Southern further contends in support of its general demurrer that the negligence alleged against it was not the proximate cause of the collision, arguing that the superseding or intervening independent negligent acts of Western & Atlantic must be taken in law as the sole proximate cause. No cases are cited, however, for the proposition that negligence of one defendant in maintaining an obstruction to view can not concur with the negligence of another defendant operating the injury-inflicting vehicle which was obscured from the view of plaintiff.

In Seaboard A. L. R. v. Blackshear, 11 Ga. App. 579 (75 SE 902), it was alleged that the defendant railroad was negligent in storing cars upon one of its sidetracks so as to obstruct plaintiff’s view and prevent him from seeing an approaching train until he had crossed the sidetrack and was just getting upon the main track when the train was observed a short distance away approaching with great speed. In holding that a general demurrer was properly overruled, the court stated (Headnote la): “While a railway company has generally the right to place [836]*836and store cars upon its sidetracks, it is a jury question whether the storing of cars upon a particular sidetrack, under stated circumstances, is negligence as related to one whose injury may have been caused or contributed to by the improper or untimely placing of such cars.” It was further held that an instruction to the jury that “ 'where a car is left on a sidetrack, whether that is negligence is a question for the jury, under all the circumstances of the case’ ” was not error.

This case is clear authority for the proposition that the maintaining of cars on sidetracks so as to obstruct the view of persons entering the crossing may be considered by the jury as a separate act of negligence contributing to the injury although other acts of negligence might be alleged in regard to the speed of the train, failure to signal and to provide flagmen, etc. We do not regard it as material in the case sub judiee that the colliding train was under the control of Western & Atlantic, while in Blackshear the train appeared to be that of the defendant causing the obstruction to view, particularly, since in this case it is alleged that both railroads maintained view-obscuring cars on their respective switch tracks at the crossing through which both railroads operated their trains without providing for warning devices, thus creating a dangerous situation.

If there could be any question on the “superseding negligence” point, however, it is answered by Williams v. Grier, 196 Ga. 327 (26 SE2d 698) and Reliable Transfer Co. v. May, 70 Ga. App. 613 (29 SE2d 187). In Williams v. Grier plaintiff was injured in a collision between her automobile which was proceeding east on one street and another automobile proceeding north on the intersecting street which was being operated at a very high rate of speed in violation of law. The suit was not against the driver or owner of the speeding automobile, however, but solely against other persons responsible for parking a truck at the intersection in such a manner as to obscure the view of drivers entering the intersection.

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Bluebook (online)
159 S.E.2d 134, 116 Ga. App. 831, 1967 Ga. App. LEXIS 974, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/western-atlantic-railroad-v-davis-gactapp-1967.