176 Iowa 74 | Iowa | 1915
On March 2,1913, the plaintiff, a young man of 20 years of age, loaded a ear of cattle at Sheffield, Iowa, for shipment over defendant’s line of railway to Chicago, Illinois. Plaintiff accompanied the shipment, taking passage upon the caboose or way car attached to the freight train. Arriving at Steamboat Eock, a station upon the defendant’s road in Hardin County, the train was stopped and the engine detached therefrom for some purpose, leaving the train standing upon the main line. While waiting thus for the return of the engine, another freight train following upon the main track came from the north at a high rate of speed and crashed with great violence into the rear of the standing train, occasioning a very serious wreck, destroying the way car, killing two of its occupants and inflicting very serious injuries upon
The defendant, answering, admits that plaintiff was injured while a passenger upon its train, admits that such injury was occasioned by the negligence of its employes and that it is liable to the plaintiff for damages so sustained, but denies that his injuries are as serious or the resulting damages as great as stated in the petition. In an amendment filed at the time of the trial, defendant “denies that plaintiff was injured in the manner, nature and extent claimed in the petition.”
From this statement of the issues, it will be seen that the dispute between the parties turned solely upon the nature and extent of plaintiff’s injuries, and the amount of damages he was entitled to recover. These questions having been submitted to the jury upon the evidence and the charge of the court, a verdict was returned assessing the damages at $19,000. Thereafter, the court, holding that the amount was excessive, gave the plaintiff the option to remit $5,000 from
We have, then, to consider whether the record shows any reversible error necessitating a new trial. Appellant’s counsel at the outset concede that they find it difficult to designate ■“individual and specific errors” which one may say influenced •or misled the jury into returning a large verdict, but they attribute such result rather to the cumulative effect of all the mistakes and adverse rulings of the court below. Following as well as we can the specific complaints mentioned in the .argument, they are as follows:
No rule of the kind contended for has ever been recognized by this court, and we think it equally unknown to courts in general. The statute provides for each litigant five peremptory challenges. This number the legislature apparently deemed sufficient to protect the average party in his right to an impartial jury; for, after having removed all jurors against whom he can show cause for challenge, he is still permitted to exercise five additional challenges without cause, and these he may use in removing any of the twelve first drawn into the box, or in removing any of those who may be called in later to fill vacancies. It may be wise strategy for counsel to keep one of his challenges in reserve as long as he can, because of the possibility that a juror may yet be drawn whom he regards as more undesirable than any of those in the box, and the reserved challenge, may be useful in removing him; but this is a matter upon which each party must take his chances. So, also, if a challenge for cause which ought to be sustained is erroneously overruled, there is no prejudice to the challenger if he still has the opportunity to get rid of the objectionable juror by peremptory challenge. This has so often been held by the courts as not to be open to debate. It follows of necessity that, where the party has the opportunity to exclude the juror by peremptory challenge, and does in fact so remove him, the overruling of the challenge for cause will afford no ground for reversal of the judgment finally rendered. See State v. Foster, 136 Iowa 527, and cases there cited. The case before us is, in all respects, within both the spirit and the letter of the established rule, and defendant is without legal ground for complaint.
It is true that defendant’s answer, as originally filed, did admit that, “by reason of the lack of care of'its employes, plaintiff was injured while a passenger on its train on March 4, 1913, and that defendant is liable for the actual damages,” but, even if the answer had been left wholly unchanged by subsequent amendment, we are of the opinion that it would not deprive plaintiff of the right to go, to a reasonable extent, into the details of his injuries and the manner and circumstances of their infliction. The admission made in the answer, it must be observed, is by no means as broad as the charge made in the pleadings. It concedes the defendant’s negligence and that defendant is liable in damages in some uncertain or indefinite amount, but leaves upon plaintiff the burden of proving every other element of his ease. ITe claims to- have received a large number of specifically mentioned injuries and to have suffered nervous shock and injury of a grave and permanent nature, and that therefrom he has been made to endure great bodily pain and mental anguish. None of these things were admitted, and it cannot be doubted that plaintiff was entitled to offer evidence to the jury upon all these matters. Moreover, for the purposes of this appeal, we must further look to the issues as affected by the amendment to the answer, which denies that “plaintiff was injured in the manner, nature and extent claimed” by Mm. This denial is somewhat ambiguous, in that it is not clear whether the words “in the manner” are to be construed as referring to the manner in which the injuries were oeea
In this connection, we may also consider defendant’s objections to the skiagraphs of plaintiff’s injured leg, introduced in evidence. The evidence of physicians and surgeons tended to show that, at various times between the date of the injury and the time of the trial below, skiagraphs, or pictures obtained by the so-called X-ray process, of the plaintiff’s broken legs were taken, and these were identified both by the surgeon taking them and by other surgeons present on these occasions. Some of the later pictures were from plates taken with- the assistance or in the presence of the surgeons employed by and testifying for the defendant. One of the surgeons employed by the defendant, one who treated the plaintiff several months, testified to having himself taken several skiagraphs of the broken limbs at different times and said they were present in court; but the record does not seem to indicate that they were put in evidence, nor do defendant’s expert witnesses, or any of them, deny or question the accuracy of the skiagraphs offered by the rplaintiff. The objection urged by counsel is practically the same as was made against the photographs of the wreck, that is, that there is no sufficient identification or showing that they are correct representations of the plaintiff’s legs at the time they were taken. In one sense of the word, no such identification is possible. A skiagraph is a picture of a state or condition of things which is not visible to the naked eye, and its correctness is, at best, a conclusion. Owing-to its novelty, the courts were, for a time, somewhat
“While it would have been better, no doubt, to have introduced evidence of the familiarity of the physicians with the process of X-ray photography and the methods employed in preparing these particular exhibits, we cannot see that the omission so to do amounted to error necessitating the reversal of the cause. The witnesses were qualified surgeons. It is well known that the X-ray is almost universally understood and used by surgeons of the present day in examining injuries. Doubtless the court required less preliminary proof from such witnesses than would have been exacted from laymen. The surgeons had testified without objection that they had examined the injuries themselves by the use of the X-ray apparatus, and this testimony in itself was an indication that they were familiar with the uses of the Rontgen rays. When, therefore, they testified to taking certain X-ray pictures, or rather the making of plates, the court doubtless assumed that the ordinary methods of those familiar with such matters had been followed. . . . But, even if an error were committed in the admission of the testimony . .' ., it was harmless, for it is evident that the condition shown by the photographs did not differ from the circumstances'disclosed by the testimony of the physicians based upon their own observations. A photograph is used like any other chart, for illustrative purposes. ’ ’
To much the same effect are Carlson v. Benton (Neb.),
6. ?^Te^°expresingítate^ft_ ansuishíental V. Several witnesses, the nurse and members of plaintiff’s family, testified to the condition of the plaintiff while in the hospital, and, over the objection of defendant, were permitted to say, after describing his battered an<b broken condition, that he expressed the wish “that he might have gone with the other two;” “that he might not be left to suffer what he did and was afraid he would lose his limbs if he did get well;” “didn’t think he could get well and that it would have been better had he died with the rest. ’ ’ This evidence is said to be clearly incompetent, and that its only purpose was to excite prejudice against defendant in the minds of the jurors.
We are of the view that the testimony was competent for its bearing upon the question of the plaintiff’s alleged mental suffering. It would be only natural that a person suffering the effects of great bodily injuries and facing the possibility of death, or of life in a badly crippled condition, should suffer extreme mental depression, and we see no reason why the expression of that feeling in words spoken while yet racked by physical pain, and before there is reason to believe that he is malingering or is manufacturing evidence by which to enhance his claim for damages, should not be admissible equally with his expressions of present physical pain, the admissibility of which is not open to doubt. Keyes v. City of Cedar Falls, 107 Iowa 509; Battis v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co., 124 Iowa 623, 624; Yeager v. Incorporated Town of Spirit Lake, 115 Iowa 593, 596; Duffey v. Consolidated Block Coal Co., 147 Iowa 225, 230.
“It will never be a good leg. He will never be able to walk normally. What I mean is he will never have good use of it — a stiff leg. The muscles themselves are not toned up as they ought to be; They are all glutiny, stuck together, adhesions, in other words it is a fibrous union.”
Yery clearly, the objection that this is an invasion of the province of the jury is not well taken. See Manton v. Stevens, 170 Iowa 495, 508. If plaintiff’s leg had been amputated, or if he was crippled in some other manner which made it perfectly plain to the eyes of the jury that the disability was permanent, it would need no testimony, expert or otherwise, to prove that fact. But there was no amputation; and although it may have been plain to the ordinary observer that he was still, to a greater or less degree, physically crippled, its continuance, whether likely to be for life or for a period of years or months, was a question for expert opinion, and the testimony of Dr. Collins was, therefore, both material and competent. Vohs v. Shorthill, 130 Iowa 538, 542.
The defendant requested the court to give certain other instructions bearing upon the issues being tried, but did not request any other or additional instruction upon the measure of damages. It did, however, file an objection to the instruction so given, on the ground, among other things, that the jury was not limited in assessing the damages to the present value of the sum so found, and we are asked to reverse the judgment because of the alleged error in failing so to charge.
The instruction in the form given does not inhibit or negative a computation of damages on the basis of present worth, and we cannot assume that the jury did not, in fact, so reach its determination. Such, indeed, would naturally be the course of intelligent jurors in estimating a sum which
“I saw the plaintiff in this case about the time he was injured; I should think within 15 or 20 minutes, possibly, after his injury. He had been removed to the house, about a block from where the accident took place, and there was a Pott’s fracture with a complete dislocation of the right leg, and the left leg there was a double compound fracture of the tibia and fibula, near the junction of the lower third, and*91 heel of the left foot was bruised, and on his face there was signs, dirt ground in, in fact all over the face, the chin was cut and there was a cut on the forehead, just back of the hair, the hair had to be shaven off in order to dress it. His face was bruised and there were bruises all over his body, blood all over his face from this cut on the head and chin, as I remember. As to whether any of the broken bones had protruded through the flesh, that was the compound fracture on the left leg, the bones had been through the flesh, of course, when I saw it they had lifted him up and they had pulled back into the flesh, you could see the edge of the bones sticking up right at the edge of the fracture. ’ ’
The injured man was removed at once to the hospital at Eldora kept by the defendant’s local surgeon, who, as a witness for the defense, says that plaintiff was then suffering from shock, that his wounds and injuries had been partly cleaned and dressed, and that proper care and attention were promptly given. For reasons which he deemed to require it, no attempt was made to reduce the compound fracture of the left leg until March 8th, four days later, when, with the assistance of two other doctors, he attempted to get the bones in proper position; but the attempt was unsuccessful, for reasons which he states as follows:
“There was an injury and cut on the heel directly through almost the center of the heel on the lame foot, cut it right down here, and made it impossible for the porous splint on the back of the limb, it was impossible to put it on; for a splint of that character becomes very hardened and too much pressure on the heel. Then the combined fracture occurred about three inches above the ankle joint, so that distance of three inches did not give us sufficient space to put on the ordinary adhesive plaster to make any extension so that when we reduced the fracture and got it directly in apposition, which we could hardly tell because the wound was open. 'We found after 24 hours that the muscles of the leg had contracted so as to draw that fracture back; in other words it*92 was almost where it was in. the first place. The company’s surgeon was notified of the condition of the fracture so he came up on the 12th of March, and we took a second skiagraph, after Dr. J, W; and Dr. Willard Caldwell and myself attempted to reduce the fracture, we took a second skiagraph. Then on March 12th Dr. Nichols came in response to our call and the four of us, Dr. J. W. and Dr. Willard Caldwell, Dr. Nichols and myself, then placed him under ether and made an attempt to reduce the fracture and hold it in proper position. I spoke of the two Dr. Caldwells, I referred to the doctor that was here on the witness stand — he is the younger doctor — and his father. I used the term apposition; that means holding the bones in exactly the position they should be in, end to end would be proper position. After Dr. Nichols got up there, with me and Dr. Nichols and all the other doctors, then we made a second attempt to adjust the fracture and hold it in apposition. Then after we attempted to treat it in this way, the next thing done was that on March 18th we took another skiagraph and found that the bones had pulled out of place again, and on March 19th Dr. J. W. Caldwell and the younger Dr. Caldwell and myself made the third attempt to pull the bones in proper position and to hold them there, we then put on a different method of extension, a method that is commonly used and accepted for that purpose with an attempt then to contract or hold the bones down in their proper place. That did not hold them. Then on March 24th we took another skiagraph and it still showed there was not sufficient power on the apparatus we used to hold the bones down; then I notified Dr. Nichols-again and he came up there and Dr. Nichols and myself and the younger Dr. Caldwell then wired those bones together. I say we wired them together. I mean by that — there are several ways we have to repair in relation to these bones, that is the Lane’s plate, the use of ordinary spikes, and the wiring. We then chiseled off a piece of the shin bone about two or three inches. ’ ’
Thereafter, says the doctor:
*93 ‘ ‘ In spite -of onr care infection occurred. From that time there was sloughing, little pus pockets would form and make their appearance and we would have to open and drain them. . . . He got better very slowly, the healing of the bones went on very well until the latter part of June — he had a very fair union at that time. About this time the leg was put into a plaster east having openings or windows through which to treat the open sores. On July' 3d plaintiff was allowed to go home. From the time of his injury he was unable to sit in a chair until the first of May. "When he went home he was able to sit up and to bear his weight on the right leg.”
After leaving the hospital, he was treated by Dr. Collins, a physician nearer his home. This physician testifies that plaintiff came to him on the day following his last visit to the hospital; the foot was very badly swollen and paining him, and the holes were discharging pus. Witness took off the plaster cast and found “the thing loose, had not been united, had been wired with wires. He could move the limb but there was not any union between the bones to speak of. ’ ’ With the assistance of another doctor, the leg was dressed and put in splints. A month later, another examination showed the wires still there and loose, then the witness returned with plaintiff to the hospital, where the wires were taken out. Thereafter, the witness says he dressed the leg every day or two, but that, when the opening would get nearly healed up, it would fill up again. In these treatments, several pieces of bone were taken out, and another piece of wire was discovered and removed. There was infection. At the time of the trial, plaintiff was still unable to use his leg; the wound therein was still unhealed; and, according to the witness, the bones are not in correct pdsition with reference to each other; the leg is crooked and the joint has not correct'articulation; and, in the opinion of the physician, he can never regain the normal use of the limb. This opinion is corroborated by other physicians who examined the case.
There is no error shown calling for a reversal of the judgment entered below and it is — Affirmed.