7 S.E.2d 308 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1940
1. Count 1 of the petition set forth a cause of action for the homicide of the plaintiff's son, and the court erred in sustaining the grounds of the defendant's general demurrer thereto.
2. Under count 2 of the petition recovery was sought only for damages because of the mutilation of the body of the deceased after the homicide, and inasmuch as the acts of the defendant were not shown to have been wilful and wanton, no cause of action was set forth in this respect, and the court properly sustained the grounds of the defendant's general demurrer to this count.
The second count of the petition set forth the same allegations of facts and circumstances as in the first count, with respect to the bridge, the cut, the approaches, the abutment and roadway, and further alleged that on the night in question Jack Garrett, with Billy Lumley and George Rogers in his car, coming from the north and from towards Georgetown and down said road at a lawful rate of speed, came up said hill, and that because of the construction of the approaches to the bridge as above stated and of the situation in regard to the bridge and railroad cut as above stated, and because of the impossibility of seeing said bridge and railroad cut the car ran off into the cut after striking a rotten post or corner of the bridge and Billy Lumley was killed; that all of the acts of the defendant in constructing and maintaining the bridge, the approaches thereto and the width of the road thereon, all of which were on its right of way, were acts of negligence, and were the cause of the failure of the driver of the car to see the bridge and the cut and the cause of his plunging therein, the said Billy Lumley and the other occupants of the car striking the railroad and the car remaining thereon, the same happening a few minutes before a freight train of the defendant approached from towards the east on said railroad; that the train, as it came towards the said Billy Lumley and the wrecked car, came up a grade and necessarily would have been under better control for stopping, but that within a few feet of where said car was resting on the track just east of the railroad bridge the grade sloped towards the left and the tracks turned gradually to the right and made a curve or bend in said railroad; that there was a railroad station known as "Wire-Bridge" station on said railroad at which there was a stop about one-half mile east of the bridge, but that said train, driven by the engineer of the train, came on, notwithstanding that the said car on the track was in plain view of the engineer for a distance of one-half mile or more, and ran into the car, caught the same upon the front part of the engine and carried it a distance of approximately fifteen hundred feet, the car, as it passed under the said railroad bridge, striking the post to said bridge and dragging on the crossties the said distance before it stopped, thereby mutilating, bruising, and maltreating the body of the said Billy Lumley so that it was crushed, bruised and disfigured; that Billy Lumley was not a trespasser on said track but was thereupon because of the carelessness *689 and negligence of the said railroad company and the maintenance of its public crossing, the abutments thereto, and the road thereto as set forth, and that it was due solely to these acts of the defendant that the said Billy Lumley was upon the railroad in said car with a mortal wound and unable to protect himself; that said track was used by pedestrians going from said station and to said station and had been for many years; that the said engineer operating the train was negligent and grossly negligent in approaching said automobile and running over it, and all of his acts were further acts of negligence of the defendant; that he saw the car in time to have stopped the train, or should have seen it and would have seen it had he not negligently been otherwise engaged in conversation and total inattention to his duties, and his acts and conduct in approaching said Billy Lumley and running over him in his condition aforesaid were wanton and wilful; that said acts have greatly humiliated, grieved, and embarrassed plaintiff and caused her great mental anguish, distress, and pain in the crushing and abuse of her son, or the body of her son, in the manner as aforesaid. The petition alleged that she had been damaged in the sum of $10,000, and judgment and process were prayed.
The defendant filed general and special demurrers to each count of the petition, and after the amendment renewed the same. The court, without passing on the special demurrers, sustained the grounds of the general demurrer to both counts of the petition, and the exception here is to that judgment.
1. Count 1 of the petition, by allegations of facts fully set forth in the foregoing statement, charges that the defendant, by its negligence, brought about the death of the plaintiff's son, a minor upon whom she was dependent and who contributed to her support. Briefly summarized, the alleged negligence consisted in the defendant's failure to keep and maintain the railroad bridge and its approaches in a condition safe for travelers lawfully thereupon. The only question to be decided is whether, as contended by the plaintiff, the duty with respect to the safety of the bridge and its approaches rested upon the defendant or, as contended by the defendant, devolved upon the State Highway Department of Georgia. The Code, § 94-503, provides: "All railroad *690
companies shall keep in good order, at their expense, the public roads or private ways established pursuant to law, where crossed by their several roads, and build suitable bridges and make proper excavations or embankments, according to the spirit of the road laws." The Code, § 94-504, provides: "Such crossings shall include the width of land on both sides of the road allowed by charter or appropriated by the company therefor, and as many feet beyond, each way, as is necessary for a traveler to get on and off the crossing safely and conveniently." These provisions of law have long existed, and are to be found in the first Code (1863) under sections 678 and 679, the first having been codified from the act of 1838, approved December 31, 1838. It has been held by the Supreme Court that the duties here enjoined by the legislature in the exercise of its police power are continuing duties, and that a railroad's obligation in the premises has not ended merely because it has provided a crossing which is adequate for travelers at the time of its construction, but that the obligation has reference to all future exigencies of travel, and that "the duty of the railroad company to construct and maintain, at its own expense, suitable crossings at the intersection of the railroad with highways, applies as well to highways laid out and opened after the construction of the railway as to those existing prior to its construction." Cleveland v. Augusta,
"The term `bridge' includes all the appurtenances necessary to its proper use, and embraces its abutments and approaches," and whatever "is necessary as an approach, to connect the bridge with the highway, is an essential part of the bridge itself."Howington v. Madison County,
It is contended by the defendant in error that under the grade-crossing elimination act of 1927 (Ga. L. 1927, p. 299), as codified in the Code, § 95-1901 et seq., the public highways of the State are under the sole control and direction of the State Highway Department of Georgia, and that the liability of a railroad for failure to maintain its bridges and approaches safe for travel no longer exists. It has however been held inAtlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Spearman, supra, that the provisions of law, Code §§ 94-503 and 94-504, were not repealed by the act creating the State Highway Department and establishing a system of State roads (Ga. L. 1919, p. 242, Code, § 95-1501 et seq. and § 95-1701 et seq.), and in Central of Georgia Ry. Co.
v. Keating, supra, it was held that the grade-crossing elimination act did not take away the duties of the railroad as prescribed in the Code, §§ 94-503 and 94-504. Central of GeorgiaRy. Co. v. Keating,
It is urged by counsel for defendant in error that the petition shows that the bridge was under the control of the State Highway *693
Department because it is alleged that "State highway No. 39 is a public highway, kept up and worked by the State of Georgia, and was on the 26th day of September, 1937." This is not equivalent to alleging that the bridge and its approaches were under the control of or had been worked by the State of Georgia, and immediately after the above-quoted language it was alleged "but said bridge and its approaches were constructed prior to the act of 1927, and have not been improved since said act but that the railroad or receiver have continued to maintain the same in the same conditions as originally constructed." The son of the plaintiff was a guest of the driver of the car. No joint mission or control over the car or the manner of operating it was shown. The petition does not disclose that the death of the son was solely caused by the negligence, if any, of the driver, or that the son by the exercise of ordinary care could have avoided the consequences of the negligence of the defendant. Inasmuch as count 1 of the petition set forth a cause of action, the court erred in sustaining the defendant's general demurrer thereto. Since it clearly appears from the order of the court that only the grounds of the defendant's general demurrer were passed upon, we have not undertaken to pass upon the questions raised by special demurrers, and in remanding the case have left open for determination the grounds of the special demurrer. Simpson v.Sanders,
2. In the second count of the petition the plaintiff seeks to recover, as next of kin, for pain and suffering because of the mutilation of her son's body after the alleged homicide. InPollard v. Phelps,
Judgment reversed. Stephens, P. J., and Felton, J., concur.