Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Humphrey

83 Miss. 721
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 83 Miss. 721 (Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Humphrey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Humphrey, 83 Miss. 721 (Mich. 1903).

Opinion

Trui.t, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The declaration in this case avers that the plaintiff, while a passenger on appellant’s passenger train, and while on her part “in the exercise of due care,” was injured by reason of certain box cars being violently switched, by means of a “kicking switch,” against the coach, in the aisle of which she was standing, the coach at th'e moment of the'collision being stationary; that the collision was unusually violent, so that she was thrown to the floor and sustained serious and permanent personal in[731]*731juries; and that the collision and injuries were caused by “reason of the careless and negligent act of the defendant and its servants.” Appellant filed the general issue, and, as provided by § 686, Code 1892, gave notice of affirmative matter in defense of the action; that it would prove “that plaintiff was injured on a mixed train at Holcomb while said train was switching, and while plaintiff was standing dn the aisle of the car conversing with an acquaintance; and that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in using the aisle of the car at a time and place and for a purpose for which it was not intended.” Plaintiff’s statement was that she boarded the train at Grenada en route to Greenwood, and that when the train reached Holcomb she got up to rest herself and walk in the car a little; that she had some conversation with certain acquaintances whom she met at that place; and that while standing in the aisle, talking, an unusually 'heavy shock was felt, caused by the collision of certain box cars against the coach in which she was standing, whereby she was thrown to the floor and sustained the injuries stated in the declaration. She further testified that she did not know that this was a mixed train; that she did not know for what purpose the train had stopped so long at Holcomb, and that she did not know that the other portion of the train was then engaged in switching, and that she had no warning or notice of the approach of the car; and that this was the most severe collision that she had ever experienced after many years of railroad travel. On behalf of the defendant it was offered to be proven by the baggage man and conductor that before reaching Holcomb, the scene of the injury, the plaintiff had been notified by the baggageman “that it was dangerous to be moving about on the train, as it was a mixed train, and that it was a rough road.” To this testimony an objection made by counsel for appellee was sustained, and to that ruling an exception was reserved.

On behalf of the appellee, among others, instruction No. 2 was given, which is as follows: “The court instructs the jury that it is not negligence for a passenger to stand in the aisle of a [732]*732passenger coach, while said coach is not moving; and if the jury believe from the testimony that after the coach reached Holcomb,' and while it was standing still, one or more acquaintances of the plaintiff entered the coach in which plaintiff was a passenger, and that plaintiff then arose from her seat to speak and to converse with said acquaintances, and that while standing in the aisle of said coach conversing with said acquaintances she ivas injured by the Contact, without beiug warned of said collision between the coach in Avhich she was standing and other cars of the same train, then the plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence.” It is apparent from a casual reading of this instruction that it does not correctly state a portion of the testimony. There is no pretense in the testimony of the appellee herself “that she then arose from her seat to speak and to converse with said acquaintances.” She does not contend that she arose from her seat for any purpose other than as stated in reply to a question upon cross examination: “I did not leave my seat on account of her coming on, at all. I got up to rest myself, as I had been traveling nearly all day, and she came aboard the train.” It is one thing for a passenger, for some purpose incident to traveling, or some necessity existing at the time, to leave her seat, and quite another proposition for a passenger to use the aisle of a car for the purpose of conversing Avith visitors. We do not intend to intimate that any passenger on a passenger train may not at any time leave his seat for any purpose necessary to the pleasure of traveling or his ovm convenience, when he has no reason to'apprehend danger, Avithout being guilty of negligence; and, while this expression in the instruction now under review is inaccurate, it alone constitutes no ground for reversal. But a more serious objection is urged to this instruction. It stated, as a matter of law, that the acts and conduct of the plaintiff at the time of the injury could not be considered' by the jury as constituting contributory negligence on her part. In legal effect, it was a peremptory instruction to'the jury that the plaintiff was not, under the facts of the ease, as disclosed by the [733]*733record here, guilty of contributory negligence. Can tbis ruling of the court be sustained ?

It is undoubtedly true that, as carriers of passengers, the •duty of exercising the utmost care and diligence is devolved upon railroad companies. It is also true that the same degree of care, in this state, is incumbent upon them in the transportation ■of passengers upon mixed trains as upon regular passenger trains. But it does not follow that, because the same degree of •care is demanded by law of the railroad companies, what would ’be contributory negligence on the part of a passenger on a regular passenger train might not constitute contributory negligence on a mixed train, on a new and rough road, under very different circumstances. The carrier owes the same degree of care to the safety of passengers on its mixed trains, and is liable to "them for any negligent violation of its duty; but at the same time the passenger who voluntarily takes passage on a mixed 'train must be “deemed to assume all the inconveniences and risks usually and reasonably incident to transportation or travel upon 'such.” Elliott on Railroads, p. 2553; Central of Ga. R. R. Co. v. Lippman, 110 Ga., 665, 36 S. E., 202, 50 L. R. A., 673; Lane v. Spokane Falls, Northern Ry. Co. (Wash.), 57 Pac., 367, 46 L. R. A., 153, 75 Am. St. Rep., 821; Fisher v. Southern Pac. R. R. Co. (Cal.), 26 Pac., 895. To the passenger on regular trains or mixed trains the carrier owes the utmost care in his transportation, but the passenger’s contributory negligence will •defeat recovery in an action based upon the mere negligence of the carrier. The passenger on a regular freight train can only recover for the “gross negligence” of the carrier.

This case, Recording to the theory of the appellant, was this: Plaintiff, an elderly lady, riding on a mixed train, consisting of both freight and passenger cars, had already exposed herself unnecessarily to danger; had been conducted to a seat; told that it was a new and rough road, a mixed train, and therefore liable to receive the ordinary jolts and jars necessarily incident to the •switching of freight cars, and there was danger of her being [734]*734burt by moving about on tbe train; still, after tbe warning, sbe stands in tbe aisle of tbe ear while tbe other portion of tbe train is engaged in switching, to which, as sbe states, “I never watched the engine, I paid no attention at all to it,” when, by an ordinary switch, made in the usual way, she is thrown to the floor and injured, when, had she used her sight and hearing, she would have noticed the switching, and, by retaining her seat, would have escaped injury.

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Bluebook (online)
83 Miss. 721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yazoo-mississippi-valley-railroad-v-humphrey-miss-1903.