Yanaway v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.

195 Iowa 86
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 17, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 195 Iowa 86 (Yanaway v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 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
Yanaway v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., 195 Iowa 86 (iowa 1922).

Opinion

Faville, ■ J.

Extending directly north from the end of North Fourth Street in the city of Fairfield is the FairfieldBrighton Eoad. The railway track of the' appellee runs parallel with Fourth Street and with said road for some distance north of the city limits of Fairfield, and is about 300 yards west of said street and highway. . At a point about 1,900 feet from the railway crossing in question, the track of the appellee begins to curve to the northeast, and after the completion of the curve, about 1,000 feet from the crossing, passes in a practically straight line to the northeast. This causes the tracks of the appellee to cross the said highway at an acute angle. As one drives north on the highway in question, from the city limits, the track of the railway company is, therefore, parallel with the highway, and distant therefrom approximately 300 yards, until about 1,900 feet from the crossing, when the track curves toward the highway. Between 1,500 and 1,800 feet from the crossing is a mound of earth, next to the track and on the east side thereof. The view of a traveler going north on the highway is obstructed by the earth bank in question and by brush and weeds on the land between the highway and the railroad, and this obstruction continues until the traveler reaches a point approximately 75 feet south of the railway crossing. From this point, the view to the southwest along the line of the railway track extends 200 feet. As one approaches near to the crossing, the view down the railway track to the southwest necessarily extends a greater distance. At 50 feet south of the crossing, the view to the southwest down the tracks is approximately 1,000 feet, and.at 35 feet from the crossing, the unobstructed view is practically the same distance.

On the morning of June 24, 1920, the appellant was driving a Ford coupe northward on the highway referred to. It was a clear day,- the roads were dry, and as he approached near the railroad crossing, he was driving at approximately ten miles an hour, and says he could have stopped his car within a distance of about ten feet. The appellant was thoroughly familiar with the crossing, and had driven over it frequently. He testified that, as he approached the crossing, he looked for a train from the south, before his view was obstructed by the bank of earth and the brush and weeds, and that at all times while approach[88]*88ing the crossing, he listened for the whistle of a train or the ringing of a bell; that his car was open, and his hearing good; and that at no time did he hear any signal given. As appellant was approaching the crossing from the south, he observed a tractor, with a road drag hitched to it, coming toward him from the north, and when within something like 100 feet from the crossing, he observed the tractor just upon the crossing, and noticed nothing about the conduct of the driver of the tractor indicating that there was any approaching train. He met this tractor about 30 or 40 feet south of the railway track, and had to turn out slightly to the east to pass by. Appellant testified that, just as he passed the tractor, he looked to the west, and did not see any train coming, and heard no train. He was struck upon the crossing by a train on appellee’s track, moving toward the northeast. The train consisted of only an engine, tender, and caboose. The evidence tends to show that it was moving at a speed of some 40 to 60 miles an hour, and there was also evidence that no signals were given, as the train approached the crossing. Appellee’s negligence is not questioned.

At the close of appellant’s testimony, the court directed a verdict for the appellee, on the ground that the appellant was guilty of contributory negligence, as a matter of law.

I. The appellant produced as a witness a photographer, who took certain pictures, shortly after the accident, at and about the crossing in question, showing the conditions at the crossing from various viewpoints. The photographer identified different photographs he had taken, and on cross-examination, the appellee developed the fact that, shortly thereafter, the photographer had taken other pictures at the crossing, while the conditions were the same in all respects as they were when the pictures offered by the appellant had been taken. Over objections, the photographer, on cross-examination, identified the pictures subsequently taken, and, over appellant’s objection, they were offered and received in evidence, as a part of the cross-examination of this witness. The appellant insists that this was reversible error.

The latitude that shall be allowed on cross-examination is largely a matter within the discretion of the trial court, pro[89]*89vided that such cross-examination is pertinent and germane to the examination in - chief. It was within the reasonable latitude of cross-examination to show that, at approximately the same time and under the identical conditions, the witness had taken other photographs than those offered on his direct examination. The witness was produced for the purpose of identifying photographs showing the locus in quo and of testifying to the position in which the camera was. placed at the time the various pictures were taken. The whole purpose and object of it was to showjby the witness, through the instrumentality of the exhibits, the conditions surrounding the crossing. It was legitimate cross-examination to show that, under the same' conditions and at approximately the same time, the witness took other photographs, showing the conditions surrounding the crossing from different viewpoints. It is much the same as if a witness had been produced to testify as to certain measurements at a given place, and, on cross-examination, was asked in regard to whether or not he made other measurements at the place, and if so, the results thereof.

There was no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in permitting this cross-examination and the introduction in evidence of the exhibits identified by the witness.

II. It is appellant’s main contention that he was entitled to go to the jury on the question of contributory negligence.

The law in regard to the duty of a traveler on a public highway who is about to cross a known dangerous and partially obscured railway crossing has been repeatedly declared by this court, and applied under a great variety of circumstances. The question of whether such a traveler has been guilty .of contributory negligence is generally a question to be determined by the jury, who are to ascertain whether or not, under all of the existing circumstances disclosed by the evidence, the traveler acted as a person of ordinary care and prudence would have acted, under the same or similar,,circumstances. But where the situation is such that all reasonable and fair-minded men would agree that' the traveler did not exercise such care and caution, then it is the duty of the court, as a matter of law, to direct a verdict against such party, because of contributory negligence. It is [90]*90also a very familiar rule that a traveler approaching a known dangerous railway crossing must look and listen for an approaching train, and must do all those acts and things which a man of ordinary care and prudence would do under such circumstances.

Applying these general rules to the instant case, we have a situation where the appellant approached a known dangerous railway crossing in broad daylight, on a clear day, driving an automobile at a rate of speed of approximately ten miles an hour, and having the same so under control that, according to his own testimony, he could have stopped it within a distance of ten feet.

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Bluebook (online)
195 Iowa 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yanaway-v-chicago-rock-island-pacific-railway-co-iowa-1922.