Loucks v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company
| Decision Date | 17 March 1884 |
| Parties | William Loucks v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Appeal by defendant from an order of the district court for Fillmore county, Farmer, J., presiding, refusing a new trial after a verdict of $ 3,000 for plaintiff.
Order affirmed.
Cameron Losey & Bunn, for appellant.
J. D Farmer and J. N. True, for respondent.
The action is for the recovery of damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff, by reason of a freight train of the defendant coming in collision with the plaintiff's wagon at the crossing of Section street over the railroad, in the village of Spring Valley. We are to consider whether the case shows conclusively, and as matter of legal imputation negligence in the conduct of the plaintiff, so that he should not recover for the alleged negligence of the defendant. The following diagram shows the situation of the premises: [SEE ILLUSTRATION IN ORIGINAL]
The depot buildings are east of Section street. The grade of the railroad descends both from the east and from the west as it goes towards the depot. The buildings shown on the diagram, standing on the west side of Broadway and on the south side of Main street, prevent the traveller upon the street from seeing the railroad in the direction in which they stand.
A freight train, consisting of 21 cars, with the locomotive, bound east, had backed up from the station westward, a distance of 1,200 feet or more west of Section street, for the purpose of gaining headway to overcome the ascending grade east of the station. At about the time when this train was coming east again, the plaintiff, in his farm wagon, driving a span of horses, coming south down Broadway, turned east into Main street and drove to the Section-street crossing, intending to cross the track. As the plaintiff came into Main street, his view of the track south of him was unobstructed from a point a little west of the crossing up to the west side of Broadway, and, as he proceeded east on Main street, the line of vision to the railroad west of Broadway past the buildings standing on that street would be gradually extended until it was obstructed by the intervening of the livery barn and other buildings near Section street. When opposite those buildings, he could see the track to the westward 1,200 feet from the crossing. After the view in that direction was shut out by the buildings on Main street, he could not see up the track westward again until he came within a short distance of the crossing. At the distance of 48 feet from the place of collision he could have seen the track 187 feet west of that point, and at about 40 feet from the crossing the view westward became again unobstructed.
The evidence tends to show that from the centre or travelled track of Main street one could not see that part of the railroad extending about a quarter of a mile east of the crossing, and the view in that direction was obstructed, until, within a distance of a few feet of the track, one looking past the mill shown on the diagram could see the track to the depot and east of that point. The evidence tends to show that there were ditches on both sides of the travelled part of Section street, near the crossing, so that it would be difficult to turn a team there, unless it was done carefully and deliberately. The speed of this train as it returned eastward to the point of collision at Section street, as estimated by many witnesses, was from 25 to 45 miles an hour. The defendant's witnesses make it less, the minimum estimate being 10 or 12 miles an hour. No signal of its approach was given by bell or whistle, until, the danger of the collision being imminent, the whistle was sounded for brakes.
The plaintiff did not see the train as it backed up west of the crossing, and does not appear to have had any special reason to expect a train would be coming from that direction. He testified that he looked at the track as he went from Broadway down Main street, and that, as he came near the livery barn, he looked backward toward the west, and neither saw nor heard any train. When he was opposite this barn he was about 200 feet from the crossing, and could then see 1,200 feet west of the crossing, nor would this view become obscured until he came within about 166 feet of the track. He testified that, after he passed the barn, going not faster than four miles an hour, he looked to the east, as he approached the crossing, to see if any train was coming from that direction. When he could see past the mill, seeing no train, he turned to look again to the west, and saw the train very near to him. His horses' heads were then about at the north rail of the three tracks, or about 10 feet from the place of collision. He said that he was frightened, and, obeying his first impulse, he struck his horses, and they jumped forward across the track, and the locomotive struck the rear end of his wagon as it passed. He testified also that he did not think 10 men could have held his horses, (in the face of the train as we understand him to mean.) The wind was blowing from the east, and some noise was caused by steam at the elevator, near the crossing. These facts lend reasonable support to plaintiff's testimony that he could not hear the approaching train. The testimony of two other witnesses, (Baldwin and Seeker,) one of whom testified in behalf of the defendant, also corroborates the plaintiff in this respect. The testimony of Baldwin also supports the plaintiff as to the fact that the train had not come within the view of the plaintiff, as he passed from Broadway to Section street.
The case thus outlined conduces to show that the plaintiff exercised watchfulness and care until he passed the buildings on Main street and came near the crossing on Section street. It is probable that the conduct of prudent men in approaching this crossing, after the view to the west had become obstructed, and as the line of the track to the east, which had until then been out of view, was coming within the range of vision, would be somewhat controlled by the previous observation of the track to the west, which might lead one to suppose that no train was near at hand coming from that direction. Perhaps the most natural course of a careful man would be to look steadily to the east until his view should become somewhat extended, since he could have had no assurance that cars were not close at hand coming from that direction. Under such circumstances, the case is not one where the law conclusively imputes negligence from the failure to look to the west at the very instant when a view in that direction became possible, since, at the same instant, and perhaps more imperatively, attention was demanded in the opposite direction. The conduct of the plaintiff at that moment may reasonably have been regulated somewhat with regard to the fact that his previous observation had led him to suppose that no train was close at hand coming from the west.
Consideration must be given to the brief interval that had elapsed, since if his evidence is worthy of belief, he saw the track clear for about a quarter of a mile in that direction; and, again, we must bear in mind that the distance between the point where he could first see the track to the west, after coming near the crossing, and the point where the view became open to the east, (at which time plaintiff did again look west,) is very small, perhaps some 10 or 15 feet. Going at the rate of four miles an hour, plaintiff would consume probably less than three seconds in passing over this space, and during that time he was looking to the east, where the track was just coming into view. As he looked again to the west the train was so close upon him, as the case shows, that danger was apparent, either in attempting to hold his team where they were, or to turn quickly upon the narrow roadway between the ditches, or in going forward. In such an emergency, only such reasonable conduct as men are capable of hastily determining upon and carrying into execution is required. Again, consideration is to be given to the absence of cautionary signals, which may have contributed...
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