Murphy v. Lehigh Valley R. Co., 33

• Decision Date: 02 December 1946
• Docket Number: Docket 20192.,No. 33,33
• Citation: 158 F.2d 481
• Parties: MURPHY v. LEHIGH VALLEY R. CO. (SCHIAVONE-BONOMO CORPORATION, Third-Party Defendant).
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

158 F.2d 481 (1946)

MURPHY v. LEHIGH VALLEY R. CO. (SCHIAVONE-BONOMO CORPORATION, Third-Party Defendant).

No. 33, Docket 20192.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

December 2, 1946.

William Paul Allen, of New York City (Francis L. McElroy, of Syracuse, N. Y., of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Alexander & Green, of New York City (Donald M. Dunn and Eugene Z. DuBose, both of New York City, of counsel), for defendant and third-party plaintiff-appellant.

Before AUGUSTUS N. HAND, CHASE and CLARK, Circuit Judges.

CHASE, Circuit Judge.

The appeal is from a judgment of the District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered on the verdict of a jury, reduced in accordance with the consent of the plaintiff to prevent the granting of defendant's motion to set it aside as excessive.

The action was brought by the plaintiff, the widow of a brakeman employed by the defendant railroad, in her capacity as domiciliary administratrix under general letters of administration granted by the Surrogate's Court of Hudson County, New Jersey within whose jurisdiction the plaintiff resides and resided with her husband at the time of his death. Later, and after her capacity to bring this suit was questioned she was appointed ancillary administratrix by the Surrogate's Court of Kings County, New York, within whose jurisdiction the decedent left no tangible property. That issue has now been abandoned by the defendant because of our decision in Briggs v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 2 Cir., 153 F.2d 841, 163 A.L.R. 1281.

The suit was brought under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq. to recover damages for the death of the plaintiff's husband who was killed early in the morning of December 11, 1943, when at work helping switch freight cars which were in the yard of the Schiavone-Bonomo Corporation at Jersey City, New Jersey, on tracks that connected with those of the defendant. There were two tracks inside that yard, now to be called respectively the north and the south tracks, on each of which three freight cars were standing when the defendant's switch engine went there about six o'clock. It was very dark and the wind was blowing from the north at gale force. The crew would ordinarily have included a conductor, an engineer, a fireman, and two brakemen, but one of the brakemen had just before been excused by the conductor, with the consent of the decedent, because he had already worked an overlong shift.

When the engine approached the Schiavone-Bonomo yard two employees of the corporation opened gates made of corrugated iron on wooden frames which had been closed across the track leading into the yard. These gates swung, one to the south and one to the north outwardly from the yard, and were fastened in their opened position by the employees of Schiavone-Bonomo. The south gate was opened about 180 degrees and fastened by a hook parallel to the fence of which it was a part. The north gate, however, was opened only about 90 degrees and was fastened in that position by means of a rod attached to it which was pushed down into an iron pipe sunk in the ground. Originally this rod had gone down into the pipe for a distance of about a foot but dirt had been allowed to accumulate in the pipe so that on the morning of the accident the entry of the rod was only about two inches. That fastening was all that held the north gate open against the gale blowing from the north. These gates were each about eight feet high and 12½ feet long and when closed met in the middle of the track leading into the yard.

After the gates were opened and fastened as just described, the conductor went to the yard office of Schiavone-Bonomo Corporation where he was given what is called a drill slip which showed that the car at the westerly end of the three on the south track was to be left in the yard and that the other five were to be removed. The westerly car on the north track was not coupled to any others and was so near that part of the south track which led into the switch joining the two yard tracks that it had to be pushed back to allow clearance before the cars on the south track could be pulled out. Pushing this car out of the way was the first thing done. Then the conductor told the brakeman to have the switcher couple onto the three cars on the south track, pull them out beyond the switch and bring them back through the switch to the north track to couple on the three cars there. The conductor after this was busy within the yard removing a metal drum which was back of the first car that had been moved and between it and the other two cars on the north track.

In this setting the accident occurred as follows. The brakeman stepped on the footboard of the switcher which was then west of the switch point outside the yard after having closed the switch into the south track. In response to his signal to the engineer the switcher moved in and stopped when the coupling was made to the three south track cars and then pulled the three cars out beyond the switch. The brakeman rode out to the switch point on the rear footboard of the engine, got off there and stopped the movement by signalling the engineer when the cars were clear. He then closed the switch into the north track and while at the switch point doing that he was about 10 feet outside the Schiavone-Bonomo fence and about three feet northerly of the track leading into the yard. As the track curved southerly from the switch point toward the railroad's main line to the west of the yard the brakeman then had to go out westerly about 10 or 15 feet to signal the engineer to back into the yard. He did that and the backward movement began in response to his signal but after only about five feet was covered the signal became invisible to the engineer who stopped at once in conformity to Rule 1179 of the defendant which provides that, "When switching cars, and depending upon signals from trainmen, the movement must not be started until the proper signal has been given, and the movement must be stopped immediately if the signals cannot be seen or are not understood." The brakeman's backing signal was again seen by the engineer who again started backing but again lost sight of the signal. This time, however, the engineer did not stop when the signal could not be seen but continued backing until he felt a jar when the cars in the movement were coupled to the westerly car on the north track. He then stopped. He had not noticed the occurrence of anything unusual during the movement of the cars.

The conductor in the yard had, however, heard a crash before the cars were coupled together and it was discovered that the wind had blown the northerly gate from its rather insecure fastening and swung it against one of the cars being pushed into the yard. It was then crushed back and partly jammed into the yard. The brakeman had been killed. His body was found about five feet outside the yard but it was within the arc through which the north gate would normally swing. The upper half of it was between the rails and the lower half which had been severed was outside the northerly rail and a little westerly of the leading trucks of the second car from the engine. Both trucks of the...