Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Thomas

• Decision Date: 23 January 1939
• Docket Number: 4-5338
• Citation: 124 S.W.2d 820,197 Ark. 565
• Parties: MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, THOMPSON, TRUSTEE, v. THOMAS, ADM'X
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

124 S.W.2d 820

197 Ark. 565

MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, THOMPSON, TRUSTEE, v. THOMAS, ADM'X

4-5338

Supreme Court of Arkansas

January 23, 1939

Appeal from Crawford Circuit Court; J. O. Kincannon, Judge affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Thomas B. Pryor, David R. Boatright and W. L. Curtis, for appellant.

D H. Howell, for appellee.

OPINION

HOLT, J.

Appellee Mrs. Flora Thomas, administratrix of the estate of Lee Thomas, deceased, began this action in the Crawford circuit court against Guy A. Thompson, trustee in bankruptcy for the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, a corporation, and R. E. Hendren and J. P. Brown, to recover damages for the injury and death of Lee Thomas, appellee's husband. A trial was had and a jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants, Hendren and Brown, but against the trustee of the railroad company, in the sum of $ 2,000.

In her complaint appellee alleges that defendants were negligent in the following manner: "That the defendant, Guy A. Thompson, trustee, his agents, servants, and employees and R. E. Hendren, engineer, and J. P. Brown, fireman, in charge and operating said train approached the scene of the accident at the great, unsafe and dangerous rate of speed of fifty miles per hour, ran down, injured and killed the deceased without sounding the bell, blowing the whistle or giving any warning whatever of the approach of the train. Plaintiff alleges that the defendants in operating said train neglected and failed to keep a proper lookout for persons and property on the railroad track and right-of-way, and that had a proper lookout been kept they could have seen deceased on or near the track in time to have stopped the train and prevented injuring and killing him." She further alleged that the deceased at the time he was struck and killed was near the end of the cross ties forming defendant's track and was there by the consent of the railroad company; and was upon an extensively traveled path used by the public generally.

The defendants filed a joint answer in which they denied every material allegation set out in the complaint and in addition thereto set up the contributory negligence of appellee's intestate and that he was a trespasser at the time of the accident, which resulted in his death.

Appellants in apt time filed their petition and bond for removal to the federal court. This petition was overruled by the trial court and removal denied, to which action appellants duly excepted.

The principal ground of error urged upon this court is that the plaintiff, under the law and evidence, failed to make out a case against the defendants and that the trial court erred in refusing to instruct a verdict on behalf of the defendants.

The material facts, as disclosed by this record, substantially are: Some time early in the afternoon of October 24, 1937 Lee Thomas, husband of appellee, according to appellee's testimony, was seen walking on the railroad company's right-of-way, about a quarter of a mile from Lee's Creek bridge, traveling east toward Van Buren, in the direction in which the train that struck him was traveling, and at the time, according to appellee's testimony, was either walking between the rails or on the ends of the ties. According to the testimony of engineer Hendren, who, it is conceded, was the only eye-witness to the fatal accident, the deceased Thomas was walking about four feet from the rail when he first discovered him and that he continued about this distance from the rail down the track with his back to the engineer until the engine was within a few feet of him when deceased suddenly stepped near the track and was hit and killed by the engine. The engineer further testified that he was keeping a lookout and first saw the deceased, Lee Thomas, when within 450 to 500 feet of him, and that he immediately began to blow his whistle, some ten or twelve times, to warn Thomas, but that Thomas paid no heed to his warning; that his train consisted of fifty-two cars, about half of which were empties, and was moving at a speed of about thirty-five miles per hour, at the time. The engineer, Hendren, testified that he could not have stopped the train, after he first discovered appellee's intestate, before striking him; that he could not have stopped it under about 1,200 feet. There was some testimony on the part of appellee, however, that the train could have been stopped within about 600 feet. There is testimony on the part of appellee that no whistle was blown and no warning signal given to deceased. The record, also, reflects that appellee's intestate might have been seen by the engineer, Hendren, for a distance of one thousand feet or more had a lookout been kept and that a stiff wind was blowing in the deceased's face, and toward the train, at the time. There is testimony on the part of appellant that the deceased met his death on the second or right-hand curve after the railroad track crosses Lee's Creek bridge. The testimony on the part of appellee, however, is to the effect that deceased...