Kraus v. Reading Co., 9521.
| Decision Date | 30 March 1948 |
| Docket Number | No. 9521.,9521. |
| Citation | 167 F.2d 313 |
| Parties | KRAUS v. READING CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Robert L. Hood, of Newark, N. J. (George H. Detweiler, of Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for appellant.
Henry R. Heebner, of Philadelphia (Wm. Clarke Mason, of Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for appellee.
Before BIGGS, MARIS and GOODRICH, Circuit Judges.
The plaintiff in this case is the widow and administratrix of Charles L. Kraus, who, for many years of his lifetime, was an employee of the Reading Railroad. Her claim against defendant is for damages caused by his death and is brought under the Federal Employers' Liability Act.1 She alleges that her husband was killed while the train on which he was the engineer passed through one of the railroad's tunnels which is located about one half mile beyond the Perkasie stop on the Philadelphia-Bethlehem line of the Reading Railroad. Her claim is predicated upon alleged negligence of the carrier in failing to provide a reasonably safe place to work due to a too close clearance between the engine's cab and the side of the tunnel in question.
The case was submitted to the jury under instructions which the plaintiff readily admits were detailed, clear, complete, and to which the plaintiff stated at the trial there was nothing to add. After eight hours of deliberation the jury returned a verdict for the defendant which verdict, described in plaintiff's words, was "reached intelligently without prejudice or bias." The plaintiff contends, however, that her case was such that a verdict for the defendant is clearly against the weight of the evidence. The railroad, on the other hand, states that her evidence, rather than being so compelling, is such that a verdict in her favor would not have been allowed to stand. With the latter contention we do not have to deal, our task being only to ascertain if the facts support the conclusion expressed in the verdict. In this situation we, of course, resolve all inferences and conflicts in the testimony in favor of the successful party at the trial.
This fatal accident occurred at about 1:45 P.M., May 20, 1944. It was a clear day. The train had left Perkasie and was picking up its speed as it approached the tunnel which is about one half mile beyond the station. This part of the road is an upgrade and there is a curve which begins before the tunnel and ends at a point about 326 feet within it. Near the mouth of the tunnel stood an employee named Kramer who observed engineer Kraus standing in the engine cab. This was a normal position for the operator. The fireman, Hone, was engaged in coaling the fire in preparation for the entrance into the tunnel. This operation was completed before the train got into the tunnel. When the train emerged from the tunnel, the fireman noticed that the train's speed increased instead of slowing down as customary in preparation for the stop at Quakertown. He looked out of his window and observed Kraus' jacket and what later proved to be his body hanging out of the right window of the engine cab. Hone crawled up to the cab, saw that Kraus was dead, and stopped the train.
There were no witnesses to this accident. The jury's only source of knowledge for ascertaining what actually happened, and likewise ours, is the circumstances surrounding the events of the few minutes in which it occurred. There were brush marks in the tunnel which indicated that something came into contact with its right side wall. These could have been made by the injured man's head because there were blood spots in the tunnel and the autopsy revealed injuries of the nature which might occur if there had been such...
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