104 Minn. 1 | Minn. | 1908
Plaintiff was a head brakeman on a train of defendant and appellant railroad company. 'When the trairi arrived at the village of Kyle,
This is substantially a part1 of the charge of the trial court. It will serve to clarify the record to amplify this statement. The platform in question was high enough to be on a level with the floor of an ordinary box car. There was testimony that there was only one other high platform on the Mason City division, and one on the I. & M. division. The-car on which plaintiff was riding was nine and eight-tenths feet wide;
The jury was justified in finding, further, that the engine, a gondola, and a standard box car passed down the side track. The intention was to separate and leave the box car at the coalhouse beyond the platform. To accomplish this the conductor’s directions were that the engineer should give the cars a start, and that plaintiff should uncouple the standard from the gondola while in motion upon a signal .from the conductor. The conductor, standing on the box car, was to “spot” the standard at the coalhouse with the hand brake. The first time he gave the signal for slack, plaintiff did not succeed in making .the uncoupling. The cars were then started again. Plaintiff was waiting for the signal by the conductor, and, so as to be sure this time to catch the slack, held onto the ladder and stood in the stirrup as previously described. He was not expressly commanded to assume this position, but so to do was reasonably in pursuance of the direction thus given.
Eighteen days after the verdict plaintiff died. His mother, as administratrix, was substituted herein. The alternative motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial was denied.
1. The first question on the merits concerns the defendant’s’ negligence. The trial court submitted to the jury two bases of negligence:
(a) “In regard to the location and construction of the freight platform,”
(b) “in regard to ordering the plaintiff into a place of extraordinary
(a) The location of the platform, defendant insists, was a matter with which the jury had nothing to do, first, because the usual and proper location of the platform was, and is, primarily an engineering proposition, properly to be determined by the objects to be accomplished by its use and with just regard for the average safety of all employees whom it may concern; second, because the evidence in this case did not warrant the submission to the jury of such a case. The testimony tended to show that this platform had a clearance distance from the track equal to that habitually employed by defendant and other companies. Such clearance distance as existed here was greater than is prescribed by the rule promulgated by the railroad and warehouse commission for platforms for unloading grain. It conformed in height to the requirements of the statute. Section 2708, G. S. 1894; section 2003, R. L. 1905. That under these circumstances defendant was not actionably negligent in the solution of its engineering problem we are referred to a line of authorities of which Tuttle v. Detroit, G. H. & M. Ry. Co., 122 U. S. 189, 7 Sup. Ct. 1166, 30 L. Ed. 1114, may be regarded as typical. At page 194 of 122 U. S., page 1168 of 7 Sup. Ct. (30 L. Ed. 1114), Mr. Justice Bradley said: “Although it appears that the curve was a very sharp one at the place where the accident happened, yet we do not think that public policy requires the courts to lay down any rule of law to restrict a railroad company as to the curves it shall use in its freight depots and yards, where the safety of passengers and the public is not involved; much less that it should be left to the varying and uncertain opinions of jurors to determine such an engineering question.” See also Boyd v. Harris, 176 Pa. St. 484, 489, 35 Atl. 22 (cattle chute too close to a side track); St. Louis v. Burns, 97 Ill. App. 175, 178; Mobile v. Healy, 100 Ill. App. 586, s. c. 109 Ill. App. 531 (two railway tracks separated by too narrow a space); Illick v. Flint, 67 Mich. 632, 35 N. W. 708 (too narrow bridge).
This'theory is plainly not applicable to the case at bar. No justification of compliance with statutory requirements as to clearance distance between the platform and cars was made out. No peculiarity of circumstance removed this case from the ordinary requirement of the
2. The second question on the merits is whether as a matter of law plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, or assumed the risk, because he knew, or ought to have known of the hazard of the platform and to have apprehended its danger. There was testimony, defendant insists, that plaintiff had frequently been in position in which he had a clear and unobstructed view of that platform, and that on the very night on which he was hurt he was in position for observation, and he could by use of his lantern easily have seen the platform in question. Plaintiff’s trip should have been one of continual and industrious discovery. He made it one of industrious blindness and indifference. Accordingly he should not be allowed to recover, even if his exposed position brought him unusually near the platform. McLeod v. New York, 191 Mass. 389, 77 N. E. 715, 114 Am. St. 628. And see Sisco v. Lehigh, 145 N. Y. 296, 39 N. E. 958; Chicago v. Clark, 108 Ill. 113.
The Michigan rule is quite clear that obstructions abutting side tracks “are usually necessary for the conduct of railroad business, and in making up trains brakemen and switchmen must be on the lookout for them. While, where they abut on the main track, and not in yards where trains are usually made up, servants of railroads may expect that such obstacles will not be placed in so close proximity to the track as to make them dangerous.” See Pahlan v. Detroit, 122 Mich. 232, 81 N. W. 103; Phelps v. Chicago, 122 Mich. 171, 178, 81 N. W. 101, 84 N. W. 66. The Michigan cases have been criticised
The theory of the trial court in submitting both questions to the jury was clearly in accord with the opinions of the supreme court of the United States. In Choctaw, O. & G. R. Co. v. McDade, 191 U. S. 64, 24 Sup. Ct. 24, 48 L. Ed. 96, a brakeman was killed as a result of being struck by an iron spout. Mr. Justice Day said (at page 68 of 191 U. S., page 25 of 24 Sup. Ct. [48 L. Ed. 96]): “The servant has the right to assume that the master has used due diligence to provide suitable appliances in the operation of his business, and he does not assume the risk of the employer’s negligence in performing such duties. The employee is not obliged to pass judgment upon the employer’s methods of transacting his business, but may assume that reasonable care will be used in furnishing the appliances necessary for its operation’. * * * The charge of the court upon the assumption of risk was more favorable to the plaintiff in error than the law required, as it exonerated the railroad company from fault if, in the exercise of ordinary care, McDade might have discovered the danger. Upon this question the true test is, not in the exercise of care to discover dangers, but whether the defect is known or plainly observable by the employee. Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Archibald, 170 U. S. 665.”
In Texas & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Swearingen, 196 U. S. 51, 25 Sup. Ct. 164, 49 L. Ed. 382, a state of facts curiously similar to those presented on this appeal was presented. Plaintiff, a switchman, was injured by striking a scale box alleged to have been in dangerous proximity to the switch track down which plaintiff was riding on the ladder of a box car. He was looking for a signal from his superior, and had a lantern, substantially as here. The tracks and scale were “standard,” with a space of less than two fe'et for the movement of a switchman between the side of a car and the scale box. Plaintiff knew the proximity of the scale box to the switch track, but did not closely inspect it or take measurements of the situation. Mr. Justice White said, inter alia, “that the dangerous contiguity of the scale box to track No. 3 and the extra hazard to switchmen therefrom was not so open
The general rule throughout the states accords with these opinions. Many of them will be found well arranged in 31 Am. & Eng. Ry. Cas. (N. S.) 548, note. And see Louisville v. Hall, 115 Ky. 567, 74 S. W. 280. The rule in this state accords. Flanders v. Chicago, St. P., M. & O. Ry. Co., 51 Minn. 193, 53 N. W. 544; Johnson v. St. Paul, M. & M. Ry. Co., 43 Minn. 53, 44 N. W. 884; Robel v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 35 Minn. 84, 27 N. W. 305; Campbell v. Railway Transfer Co., 95 Minn. 375, 104 N. W. 547. Chief Justice Ryan, in Dorsey v. Phillips, 42 Wis. 583, with characteristic clearness and force stated the reason for this rule: “The safety of railroad trains depends largely upon the exclusive attention of those operating them to the track and to the trains themselves. It is not for the interest of railroad companies, or of the public — with like, if not equal, concern in the safety of trains — that persons so employed should be charged with any duty or necessity to divert their attention. And it appears to us very doubtful whether persons operating railroad trains, and passing adjacent objects in rapid motion, with their attention fixed upon their duties, ought, without express proof of knowledge, to be charged with notice of the precise relation of such objects to the track. And, even with actual notice of the dangerous proximity of adjacent objects,
The application of these principles to the case at bar permits no doubt that the instructions of the trial court were as favorable to the defendants as could reasonably have been. The court fully and fairly charged that the plaintiff assumed the ordinary, but not the extraordinary, hazards and risks of his employment; that if an order was given, and the plaintiff had knowledge or notice that to execute the order would expose him to unusual or extraordinary danger, he would assume the risk and danger incident thereto, and he might not recover for injuries so sustained. Plaintiff denied actual knowledge. It must be assumed that the jury believed him. Within the views thus expressed, the court was clearly right in submitting to the jury the question of notice to him. Plaintiff, a minor, had had no experience in this line of duty, except two months’ service as a freight brakeman. He had passed by and had stopped at Lyle only four or six times. For part of this time he had been on this branch of the road, and claimed that his “work had been performed in another part of the yard.” He had a right, in the performance of his duties, which occupied his attention in giving and receiving signals, watching the loading and unloading of freight at depots, and the like, to assume, especially in view of the direction of his superior officer, that the master had not been guilty of negligence, and was not required by law to make a detailed and exact study of the facilities his master had provided.
In this connection plaintiff introduced some evidence tending to show that the rules had been habitually disregarded. We refer to that evidence only because its admission has been assigned as error. It was certainly competent for the plaintiff to show the abandonment of the rules. Alabama v. Bonner (Ala.) 39 South. 619. A recent and able summary of the law in this regard will be found in St. Louis v. Caraway, 77 Ark. 405, 91 S. W. 749. The only question here on'this point
4. The defendant insists that the verdict, being against the defendant railroad company only, exonerated Bennett, the conductor, and thereby exonerated this defendant likewise, and that the court, therefore, erred in not granting defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The argument is that the company had warned the plaintiff generally as to structures like the platform in question, that this was all it could do in the way of giving warning, that the breach of duty to warn was Bennett’s, and that, i‘f Bennett were not liable, the company could not be liable, for any failure to warn. In this connection reference has been made to many cases which show that1, if the only negligence to warn was that of Bennett, the failure of the jury to return a verdict against Bennett entitled the defendant to a directed verdict. In this particular case, however, the court submitted the question to the jury “whether it was the duty of the defendant Bennett” “that he inform the plaintiff of this platform or of its relation to the side track.” It further charged that he [Bennett] was “simply required to exercise ordinary care in regard to that. * * * In passing upon the question of his negligence, you have a right to consider what knowledge he may have had in regard to the plaintiff’s previous experience as a freight brakeman, and especial: ly in regard to his service on this particular line of road.” The submission of this issue to the jury in this manner was not made the
5. The next question on the merits concerns the abatement of the action. ■ Defendant insists that the verdict should have been set aside and a new trial awarded under section 4503, R. L. 1905. That section is part of the local Lord Campbell’s act. The particular proviso is: “Provided, that if an action for such injury shall have been commenced by such decedent, and not finally determined during his life, it may be continued by his personal representative for the benefit of the same persons and for recovery of the same damages as herein provided, and the court on motion may make an order allowing such continuance, and directing pleadings to be made and issues framed conformably to the practice in actions begun under this section.” This proviso did not mean that the personal representative of the deceased may be substituted in the action commenced by the intestate, and prosecute his cause of action for damages for the benefit of the widow and next of kin, which would otherwise die with him. It authorizes the personal representative of the deceased, where the evidence warrants it, to be substituted as plaintiff in’ the original action brought by him, and to convert the action, by amendment of the pleadings, into an action for the benefit of the widow and next of kin. It does not authorize any such substitution for the purpose of prosecuting the original cause of action which accfued to the deceased in his lifetimé. Anderson v. Fielding, 92 Minn. 42, 99 N. W. 357, 104 Am. St. 665. Where, however, the cause of action which accrued to the injured person during his lifetime has been made the basis of an action to recover damages, and a verdict for the damages has been awarded therein, the effect of the death of the plaintiff is not governed by section 4503, but by the general sections governing ordinary civil actions. Under section 4064 it is provided, inter alia, that after the verdict, decision, or report of a referee fixing the .amount of damages for a wrong, such action shall not abate by the death of any party thereto. Section
6. Defendant also insists that the verdict of $35,000 is so excessive as to indicate passion or prejudice. There is no dispute that plaintiff’s injuries resulted in indescribable anguish and in death. They were as serious as they could possibly have been. That they were necessarily fatal, or that only $5,000 could have been recovered by his administrator for the next of kin, does not constitute any reason whatever for holding the verdict improper. It has never been the law in this court that, the worse a servant is hurt by his master’s negligence, the less he can recover. The fact that death was likely to result does not diminish the extent of the proper recovery. Plaintiff, surviving the casualty, had a cause of action totally different from that of his administrator on his death. See Mageau v. Great Northern Ry. Co., 103 Minn. 290, 115 N. W. 651. For his injury he was entitled to compensation. The greater the injury, the larger should the verdict be. In the present case, calculations of the value of the verdict, intelligently invested, show that the verdict was not unreasonable upon a strictly pecuniary basis. We know of no reason or authority for disturbing the verdict of this jury which the trial court refused to set aside. See Hall v. Chicago, B. & N. R. Co., 46 Minn. 439, 49 N. W. 239; Texas v. Kelly, 34 Tex. Civ. App. 21, 80 S. W. 1073; Gulf v. Shelton, 30 Tex. Civ. App. 72, 69 S. W. 653; Morhard v. Richmond, 111 App. Div. 353, 98 N. Y. Supp. 124; Smith v. Whittier, 95 Cal. 279, 30 Pac. 529 ; Huggard v. Glucose, 132 Iowa, 724, 109 N. W. 475; Retan v. Lake Shore, 94 Mich. 146, 53 N. W. 1094.
7. Because of the inconvenience, if not the impossibility, on account of plaintiff’s physical condition, of having him in court at the trial, the judge, jury, and counsel repaired to his home and there took his testimony. At its close, despite defendant’s objection, his
8. A number of other assignments of error call for no extended discussion. The admission of evidence to show the feasibility of cutting doors in the end of the depot, so as to dispense with the platform ; the instruction of the court as to statutory platforms, and its refusal to charge, as defendants requested on this point, practically that he could not recover because of proximity of platform, if error at all, which we doubt, was error without prejudice. The court repeatedly charged that the basis of actionable neglect-was the proximity of the box car to the side of the platform and the failure to warn. That the platform was built in the wrong place was not the basis of defendant’s negligence. So also if the court submitted to the jury some questions which it should have decided as of law, no prejudice appears. These and other assignments of error have been considered and found not to constitute reversible error.
Affirmed.