Chesapeake Ohio Railway Company v. Claude Proffitt

• Decision Date: 05 June 1916
• Docket Number: No. 273,273
• Citation: 60 L.Ed. 1102,36 S.Ct. 620,241 U.S. 462
• Parties: CHESAPEAKE & OHIO RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. CLAUDE L. PROFFITT
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

241 U.S. 462

36 S.Ct. 620

60 L.Ed. 1102

CHESAPEAKE & OHIO RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v CLAUDE L. PROFFITT.

No. 273.

Argued March 10, 1916.

Decided June 5, 1916.

Messrs. Walter Leake, David H. Leake, and Henry Taylor, Jr., for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Hill Carter and C. V. Meredith for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Pitney delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action brought in the United States district court under the Federal employers' liability act of April 22, 1908 (chap. 149, 35 Stat. at L. 65, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8657).

Plaintiff was a brakeman in defendant's employ, and, during the night of July 2, 1912, was called for duty at Gladstone, Virginia, to take his place as head brakeman on a fast interstate freight train, known as a 'manifest train,' comprising about forty cars, which had just come into the division terminal yard at Gladstone and was about to be taken forward. He got upon the road engine and this was attached to the train, plaintiff making the coupling. Just after this he met the yard master, who had charge of all the work done in the yard, whose orders plaintiff was bound to obey, and who told plaintiff, according to his testimony, to 'cut out three cars at the head end of the train [numbers 2, 3, and 4] and switch them off on a side track and come back and couple up, and they would be ready to go.' Plaintiff proceeded with the road engine and crew to take out the three cars, returned to the main track with the engine and car number 1, coupled the latter to the forward end of the train, and was in the act of coupling up the air hose, an operation that required him to step between the rails. While he was in this position, a collision took place, caused by the acts of the yard crew, who (unknown to plaintiff), under orders of the yard master, and with the aid of the yard engine, were engaged in switching cars at the rear end of the train, and who, negligently, as the jury doubtless found, drove a cut of twenty-nine cars into the standing cars (about eight in number) with undue violence. According to the testimony of the road engineer and fireman the jar of the impact was such that, although their engine was standing, with its independent brakes set, it was thrown forward 20 feet along the track. Naturally plaintiff was knocked down and run over, and he sustained serious personal injuries, including the loss of an arm.

In view of the character of the question that is to be passed upon, a somewhat particular recital of the evidence is necessary. There was testimony that when a manifest train came into a terminal yard such as Gladstone, destined to points further along the line, the engine and caboose were changed and sometimes cars were taken out and others brought into the train; and that, in order to save time, it was customary to have such shifting operations, when necessary, done at both ends of the train, the road engine and road crew operating at the front, the yard engine and yard crew at the rear. Whether plaintiff knew of this custom was, under the evidence, open to dispute. He at one time denied that he knew it was customary for both ends of a manifest train to be 'worked' at the same time; and while this was afterwards qualified, it appears not to have been withdrawn. He admitted that it was customary to follow the instructions of the yard master, but denied that on this occasion the yard master told him anything to the effect that the rear end of the train was to be worked. He testified that he had no notice that anything was to be done at that end of the train beyond attaching the caboose, and that after putting the second, third, and fourth cars upon the side track, and coming back to the train, he looked up the track, which was straight, saw no lamp or other signal, and then proceeded with his coupling operations, with the result already mentioned. Whether it was usual, in conducting such switching operations, to have a man at the forward end of the moving cut of cars, was in dispute. Plaintiff testified that 'it is the custom to have a man on the front end of a cut of cars that is being switched into other cars, who looks out for that and runs and stops the engine just before they get there, in making the coupling.' Two of defendant's witnesses contradicted this; one in terms denying the custom of giving a warning as stated by plaintiff; the other declaring that 'all the warning he knew of being given, or the practice, was for the men in and about the train to take care of themselves and see for his own danger when he attempts to do any work, and the witness knew of no signals given;' while another and experienced witness, called by defendant, being asked if it was customary when running in a cut of cars to have a man on the front end with a light, replied: 'Well, on the yard in switching cars they come right down to the book rule. It says where cars are being shoved a man must be placed on the head car.' Whether there was a man at the forward end of the cut of cars that produced the collision in question was in controversy. As to plaintiff's opportunity to gain knowledge of the alleged custom, it did not distinctly appear that he had previously worked on a manifest train. He testified that he had been employed as brakeman something more than five years, part of the time as an extra man and part of the time...