Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Vinson

• Decision Date: 26 May 1903
• Citation: 74 S.W. 671
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. VINSON.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

74 S.W. 671

ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. VINSON.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

May 26, 1903

Appeal from Circuit Court, Marshall County.

"Not to be officially reported."

Action by James Vinson against the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Reversed.

Reed &amp Oliver, W. Mike Oliver, J. M. Dickinson, and Pirtle & Trabue for appellant.

Hendrick & Miller, for appellee.

BURNAM C.J.

This is a suit for damages resulting from personal injuries. The plaintiff, James Vinson, alleged that he purchased a ticket for transportation over defendant's road from Cairo Ill., to Gilbertsville, Ky. and that, while endeavoring to alight from the defendant's train at his point of destination, he was, by the gross negligence of defendant's servants, thrown violently against the iron railing in front of the platform, thereby receiving serious injuries. The defendant, in its answer, denies that plaintiff's injuries were due to the negligence of its servants in charge of the train, and alleges that when plaintiff purchased his ticket he was informed that he would have to travel on a mixed train from Paducah to Gilbertsville, which was more dangerous to travel upon; that plaintiff's injury was received at a time when defendant's agents in charge of its train were exercising the highest degree of care that could be exercised in operating trains of that character; and it also relies upon a plea of contributory negligence. Plaintiff, in his reply denies that defendant was exercising the highest degree of care in the operation of the mixed train on which he was traveling, or that his injuries were due to contributory negligence on his part. The testimony for plaintiff conduces to show that, after defendant's train had stopped at Gilbertsville, he arose from his sent and went forward to the front platform of the car on which he was traveling, for the purpose of alighting therefrom, and that the train, unexpectedly to him, started forward, and then suddenly stopped, which resulted in a violent concussion between the passenger coach and the platform on which he was standing and the freight car in front of it, which threw him against the iron railing surrounding the platform, with great violence, thereby inflicting serious injury. The testimony of the defendant conduces to show that the plaintiff was informed at Cairo, Ill., when he purchased the ticket for Gilbertsville, that if he went on a particular train it would be necessary for him to travel on a freight train, with a passenger coach attached, from Paducah to Gilbertsville, in order to reach his destination on that day; that, owing to the great number of cars on trains of this character, they were much more difficult to handle than regular passenger trains; that, when defendant's train approached its destination, immediately after the conductor had announced the name of the station of Gilbertsville, and while the train was still in motion, the appellee negligently left his seat and walked to the front of the coach on which he was riding, and that when the train was stopped the necessary and unavoidable...