195 Iowa 1049 | Iowa | 1923
I. The first question presented for our consideration is with regard to the question of contributory negligence on the part of the appellee. It is urged in behalf of the appellant that the trial court should have directed a verdict in its behalf, on the ground that the appellee had failed to prove his freedom from contributory negligence.
We have not attempted to set out in minute detail all of the facts surrounding the accident, but sufficient to indicate the general situation and the conduct of the appellee in attempting to cross the railroad track at the time of the collision.
The question of contributory negligence in actions of this character, involving collisions between a train and a vehicle on
But there are cases in which it is the duty of the court .to direct the jury to return a verdict for a defendant on the ground that the evidence shows that the plaintiff in the action had been guilty of contributory negligence, or a want of ordinary care. This situation arises when it appears that the plaintiff has failed to establish material facts essential to show the exercise of due care. In such instance, it is the duty of the court to direct a verdict for the defendant. The basic and fundamental reason for this is that, in such a situation, there is no question to submit to the jury in this regard, under the established rules of law.
The general rules of law regarding the duty of one about to cross a railway crossing, in order to be free from contributory negligence, are not intricate? nor obscure. All courts agree that due care requires that a traveler, under such circumstances, must use his senses of sight and hearing, before attempting to cross
Since the advent of the automobile it has been suggested by some decisions that due care requires that a traveler approaching a railroad crossing shall have his automobile “under control.” It is a matter of common knowledge that the ability to greatly increase the speed of an automobile by the simple expedient of depressing the accelerator (or, as it is more commonly and vulgarly designated, by “stepping on the gas”) has promoted the temptation in numerous instances to endeavor to “beat the train” at a railway crossing. Here again the courts are powerless to prescribe hard and fast rules of speed or of “control,” other than the general rules that a plaintiff must alivays use ordinary care and prudence, and must do all the acts and things which a person of ordinary care and prudence would do under the same or similar circumstances.
The foregoing observations are elementary and confessedly quite academic. They may, however, serve to emphasize a fact, which should be patent, that no two cases of this character are ever identical in their facts in regard to contributory negligence. It therefore follows that precedents on this question are of value only because of similarity of fact situations; and even then it is apparent that there are almost invariably points of distinction and differentiation that, even though apparently slight, may serve to carry one cáse to a jury and require a directed verdict in another. The eases must all come under the same general rules and be measured by these rules.
It is sometimes said, by way of criticism, that the decisions of the courts cannot be harmonized, and that they are “in hopeless conflict.” It is most certainly true that the facts of the various cases cannot be harmonized, for the simple reason that no two cases are identical in their facts; but the general rules with regard to contributory negligence have been reiterated
In cases of this character, it also often happens, necessarily, that a comparatively slight difference in the facts of any particular case may distinguish it from another case. It therefore follows that cases cited as precedents are of comparatively little value in actions of this kind. The courts are compelled to decide each particular case upon its facts, or want of facts, in determining whether or not the plaintiff therein has been guilty of contributory negligence, and must apply to the situation the general rules that have been so frequently announced and are so well established. Precedents with similar facts are valuable only as illustrating the application of the rules in somewhat analogous cases. It is. scarcely possible to cite a case with facts so similar as to be “absolutely controlling.”
The cases of this character necessarily fall into two general classes: one in which it has been held that, under the facts disclosed, the question of whether or not the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence was one for the jury. The other line of cases holds that, under the particular facts under consideration in each case, the evidence failed to show that the plaintiff was free from contributory negligence, and therefore that the court should have directed a verdict. These two classes of cases are not “antagonistic,” nor do they announce different rules of law, nor can it justly be said that “they cannot be reconciled,” or that they “are conflicting” or “contradictory” or “in confusion.”
In the instant case, these two lines of authorities are presented for our consideration. A total of 144 authorities is cited, a great majority of them by the appellee. It is quite within bounds to say that they present nearly every possible state of facts that it could readily be imagined might arise in a railway accident case. They are each governed by the same general rules, however. There are in these different cases the many and perplexing questions surrounding a collision, such as the degree of light or darkness, the hour of day or night, the atmospheric conditions, the questions of grade and of angles; the questions of wet or dry paving, of cinder, dirt, or macadamized road.; the questions of the speed of trains, automobiles, and teams; ques
We have heretofore set out the important facts in this cáse, and have read the entire record with care. Without reciting again the details of the evidence as above set forth, we think it was sufficient to carry the case to- the jury on the question of the appellee’s contributory negligence. The evidence shows that the crossing in question was more or less obscured. ■ The appellee was not driving at an unreasonable rate of speed, and had his car under such control that‘he could have stopped it within a distance of ten feet. He knew of the presence of a train on the track near the depot, that might approach the crossing, and he was required to be on the lookout for the same. He had a right to rely, to a certain degree, upon the fact that the city ordinance prohibited the train from moving through the town at a greater rate of speed than ten miles an hour, and he also had a right to rely, to a certain extent, upon the duty resting upon the railroad company to give warning signals of its approach to the crossing. There is no conflict in the evidence upon the fact that he listened for such signals and that he looked in each direction for an approaching train. We think it was for the jury to determine, upon all of the facts and circumstances disclosed, whether or not the appellee was guilty of contributory negligence. The trial court properly held that, under the facts and circumstances disclosed in this record, the appellee made a case upon which he was entitled to go to the jury upon the question of contributory negligence.
II. The appellant complains of certain phrases in one of the instructions given.
III. It is claimed that the verdict of the jury is excessive, and the result of passion and prejudice. The verdict as originally returned was in the sum of $15,500, and the trial court reduced it to $12,000.