Loftin v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 17 March 1953
• Parties: LOFTIN et al. v. ANDERSON et al. ANDERSON v. LOFTIN et al.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 470

66 So.2d 470

LOFTIN et al. v. ANDERSON et al.

ANDERSON v. LOFTIN et al.

Supreme Court of Florida, en Banc.

March 17, 1953.

Loftin, Anderson, Scott, McCarthy & Preston, Miami, Russell L. Frink, Jacksonville, Robert H. Anderson, William C. Steel and Francis W. Sams, Miami, for Scott M. Loftin and others, appellants and appellees.

Nichols, Gaither, Green, Frates & Beckham, Wm. Clinton Green and J. B. Spence, Miami, for Mrs. Bertha Moyd Anderson and her husband R. K. Anderson, appellees, and R. K. Anderson, appellant.

TERRELL, Justice.

These cases stem from the following facts: Bertha Moyd Anderson purchased a round trip ticket from appellants entitling her to transportation from Galin, Illinois, to Miami, Florida, and return. As the train on which she embarked was approaching the Miami terminal January 14, 1950, the porter advised the passengers to make ready to vacate. Mrs. Anderson and the other passengers obeyed. The train was brought to a sudden and violent stop whereby Mrs. Anderson was thrown to the floor and permanently injured. She brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries. Her husband R. K. Anderson joined in the action, claiming damages for hospital, medical and doctor's bills, including loss of services, consortium and future medical care. The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of Mrs. Anderson for $12,500 and a judgment for the defendant in response to the claim of Mr. Anderson. Defendant has appealed from the judgment in favor of Mrs. Anderson and Mr. Anderson has appealed from the judgment against him.

The primary contention of appellant is that the trial court committed error in refusing to direct a judgment for it in the case of Mrs. Anderson because her fall and injury resulted from an emergency stop to avoid colliding with an automobile that was parked on the track in front of the train. St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. Co. v. Earl, Fla., 49 So.2d 324; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Harrison, 78 Fla. 381, 83 So. 89; Stremanos v. City of Cleveland, Ohio App., 77 N.E.2d 504; Baltimore Transit Co. v. O'Donovan, Md., 78 A.2d 647; Wayne v. New Orleans Public Service, La.App., 52 So.2d 55 and volume 2, Section 296, Restatement of Torts, are relied on to support this contention.

It is true that these cases, some of them directly and others by inference, approve the sudden emergency doctrine. It is applicable to common carriers of passengers for hire, the gist of it being that when confronted with a sudden emergency arising from no fault or negligence of the common carrier, it will not be held liable for damages that follow, even though it may be later shown that if the one responsible had acted differently, the accident would not have taken place.

Appellees contend that the sudden emergency requiring rapid decision in this case, resulted from appellant's tortious conduct, and being so, the sudden emergency doctrine has no application. In support of this contention appellees point out that the emergency stop took place a short distance above 16th Street in Miami, that said street is not a regular crossing, though it has the appearance of being one in that there are several parallel tracks that are paved between the rails and for other reasons. It is further pointed out that motorists traveling from East to West on 16th Street at night frequently attempt to cross and get stalled on the main track. It is near an industrial area and well illuminated. One of the witnesses, a night watchman at one of the plants, testified that he frequently had occasion to pull stalled motorists off the main line track at 6th Street and that an automobile was demolished there about two weeks prior to the injury in question. In the case at bar the car stalled on the track about 8 P.M. (after night) and the train came along about 8:15 P.M. The occupants of the car had vanished before the train came and were never located.

The evidence also shows that when the car stalled a colored boy proceeded up the track waving a white flag and that another person who was a witness proceeded 281 feet toward the train to signal with a flashlight; he had a two cell 'steel master,' light in good condition and gave the engineer the emergency stop signal. The same witness testified that the Negro boy got to the large semaphore waving the white flag which by actual measurement was 685 feet from where the car stalled. He further testified that the train was at the Miami Avenue crossing 1,353 feet when he first waved the flash light and that it could be readily seen at that distance. He said he had been working at the locality since 1946 and had helped remove at least 100 stalled cars from the 16th Street crossing. The engineer testified that his train was running about 15 miles per hour; that his seat in the engine cab was eight feet above the ground; that it was 667 feet from Miami Avenue crossing to the automatic block signal; that he was 350 to 400 feet from the stalled car when he saw it and that at the speed he was traveling he could bring his train to a stop in 400 feet without application of emergency brakes. From this and other pertinent evidence appellees contend that the engineer was on notice that the train was approaching the station; that the passengers...