Gravelle v. Minneapolis & St. L. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 01 January 1882
• Citation: 10 F. 711
• Parties: GRAVELLE v. MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS RY. CO.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

10 F. 711

GRAVELLE v. MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS RY. CO.

United States Circuit Court, D. Minnesota.

1882

C. K Davis and A. B. Jackson, for plaintiff.

J. D Springer, for defendant.

McCRARY C. J.

(charging jury.) The case which you are now called upon to consider, so far as the facts are concerned, is one in which Mr. Jeremiah Gravelle, the plaintiff, alleges that he has been injured in his person by the negligence of the defendant. You will see at a glance that the main question is a question of negligence and that question you are to consider in the light of what I shall say to you concerning the law.

The plaintiff claims that he was employed as a laborer in the yards of the defendant, the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway Company, at Minneapolis; that while in their employment (I think it was some time in November, 1879) he was ordered by the assistant yard-master of the company (Mr. McCummings, I think, is the name) to make a coupling between an engine and tender a certain freight car standing upon one of the tracks in that yard. He claims that, under the circumstances of the case this was a duty which was extraordinarily and unusually dangerous and hazardous, and that on account of the negligence of the assistant yard-master, Mr. Cummings, in ordering him to make the coupling under the circumstances, and in failing to give an order or signal to check the speed of the approaching engine, he was injured without any fault or negligence on his own part. He also claims that the assistant yard-master, and the engineer who was in charge of the engine and tender, were negligent, unskillful, and unfit persons for their places, and that the defendant, the railroad company, had knowledge of the fact. He also claims that the machinery was not in proper condition, because the tender which he was required to couple to the freight car had no coupling link upon it. These are the facts upon which the plaintiff relies, which he claims to have established before you.

On the part of the defendant it is claimed, in the first place, that their agents were not negligent; that the engine and tender were approaching the freight car at about the usual rate of speed, and not at an extraordinary or dangerous rate; that the duty which the plaintiff undertook to perform in that case was not unusually hazardous or dangerous; and that there was no negligence on the part of the assistant yard-master in ordering him to do the duty under the circumstances, nor on the part of the engineer in running the engine up to the freight car. Defendant further claims that if there was negligence on the part of any of its individual agents, it was negligence of a fellow-servant employed in the same common service with the plaintiff, and that, therefore, the plaintiff cannot recover; the law being that the employer, the railroad company, is not liable, is not responsible, for injuries which one of its servants may receive on account of the negligence of another fellow-servant employed in the same common service with the party injured.

As to the defect in the machinery by reason of the absence of the link from the tender, the defendant claims that that was not a defect; that it was not unusual to use tenders that had no links attached to them; that it was common to leave them inside the tender or lying upon the track to be picked up and used as occasion may require.

These are the issues upon which you have heard the testimony. It is your duty to consider it impartially and carefully, and to reach your conclusion upon the questions of fact and find a verdict, in the sight of the law as I shall now endeavor to explain it.

As I have already said, the controlling question is a question of negligence. But I should have said to you, however, that another defence of the defendant is that the plaintiff himself was guilty of negligence which contributed to his injury. Negligence is the failure to exercise that degree of caution which a man of ordinary intelligence would exercise under the circumstances of a particular case. The degree of care which is required of a man is measured by the circumstances by which he is surrounded, by the nature of the duties in the performance of which he is engaged. What would be ordinary care and prudence under one set of circumstances, might be negligence under another set of circumstances. As, for example, if a person is traveling along the public highway, with his vehicle, at an ordinary rate of speed, and no unusual circumstances to excite caution or induce care, while, on the other hand, if he is engaged in coupling cars upon a railroad, where there are a great number of cars and engines, the very nature of his employment requires greater care and attention than would be required under other circumstances.

Your first inquiry, then, may be as to whether the plaintiff was guilty of any negligence or any want of ordinary care and prudence on the occasion of the accident. If you find that he was guilty of negligence which contributed to his injury, the law is that he cannot recover, and you will not be required to go any further with your investigations. But if you find him not guilty of contributory negligence you will then proceed to consider the other points.

You must find that the accident and injury were the result, not of the negligence of a fellow-servant engaged in the same common service with the plaintiff. And it is necessary for me to explain to you what is meant by the rule which I have stated. A fellow-servant or...