124 P. 271 | Mont. | 1912
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal by plaintiff from an order granting a new trial. She brought her action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by reason of the negligence of the defendants in running a passenger train upon and against her at a public highway railroad crossing in Yellowstone county. The cause was tried to a jury which rendered a verdict against the defendants. On their motion a new trial was granted.
The facts of the ease as shown by plaintiff’s evidence are substantially these: On December 23, 1909, when sixteen years of age, accompanied by her brother Joseph, who was fifteen years old, she started from her home about twelve miles away, to drive to the city of Billings. They drove a gentle team attached to a top buggy with the curtains down. Joseph did the driving. He was an experienced driver, well able to control the team. Plaintiff wore a coat with a fur collar and a scarf over her ears; a blanket was wrapped around them. It was a cold day. Joseph had his ears muffled by the flaps of his cap. They approached the railroad track from the west at an angle of about forty-five degrees. They could see the track east of the crossing for a long distance without difficulty, but in order to see to the west it was necessary to look around or over the side curtain. When within 240 yards of the track they stopped
The court gave the following instruction to the jury: “You are instructed that a child is bound to exercise only the care of
In view of the immaturity of the plaintiff, we cannot say, considering the precautions which were actually taken to discover whether or not a train was approaching, and all the other facts and circumstances of the case, that she was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, and we think the learned district judge erred in so holding. Whether or not she was guilty of contributory negligence was a question of fact to be determined by the jury; they decided the question in the negative, and that decision should stand so far as that feature of the appeal is concerned.
But it is said that the motion for a new trial was properly
The court in its instruction No. 3 directed the attention of the jury to the question whether plaintiff’s brother had reason to believe “that he could reach and cross the track before the arrival of the train.” Upon a retrial this instruction should not be given. There is not any evidence to justify it.
The order is affirmed.
Affirmed.