Payne v. Davis

• Decision Date: 22 May 1923
• Docket Number: No. 23169.,23169.
• Citation: 298 Mo. 645,252 S.W. 57
• Parties: PAYNE v. DAVIS, Agent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

252 S.W. 57

298 Mo. 645

PAYNE v. DAVIS, Agent.

No. 23169.

Supreme Court of Missouri, in Banc.

May 22, 1923.

Appeal from Circuit Court, St. Louis County; John W. McElhinney, Judge.

Action by William Otto Payne, an infant, by James W. Copeland, his next friend, against James C. Davis, Designated Agent under the Federal Transportation Act of 1920. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

J. P. Green, M. U. Hayden, and H. H. Larimore, all of St. Louis, for appellant.

Claude M. Crooks and Charles E. Morrow, both of St. Louis, for respondent.

Statement.

LINDSAY, C.

The appellant Is the Designated Agent under the Federal Transportation Act of 1920 (41 Stat. 456), to conduct litigation arising out of the operation of the system of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company while the property of that company was being operated by the Director General of Railroads. His appeal is here in due form from a judgment rendered by the circuit court of St. Louis county, in the sum of $20,000, in favor of respondent William Otto Payne, an infant suing by his next friend, and following the verdict of a jury assessing respondent's damages at that sum. The amount sued for was $50,000. The injuries complained of were sustained by respondent to his person on the 19th day of February, 1920, through a fall which occurred while he was walking upon the right of way and by the side of the tracks of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, after having alighted from a Missouri Pacific passenger train upon which he was a passenger, and which had stopped to let off passengers for Edgebrook Station in St. Louis county. There was no station building at Edgebrook, but only an alighting place made of chat or gravel, which extended along the track on either side of the signboard designating the stop "Edgebrook." This signboard is on the south side of the tracks, which run east and west at that point; and the position of the train when it stopped on the night in question, and the distance of the place where respondent alighted, from the signboard and chat alighting place, are questions of importance in this case, as will be more apparent later on. The petition alleges that the plaintiff was carried by, and required to alight from the train at a point west of, the station, and by reason thereof, not being familiar with the surroundings In which he found himself, and because of the darkness, and of the failure of the defendant to provide lights, or to direct or warn him, he took the way which led him to where he fell, and sustained the injuries for which he sues.

Since a determination of the case requires consideration of the character and relative location of many physical objects at and near the station, and the immediate point where the accident occurred, and the other circumstances as well under which plaintiff left the train, and also because it is contended here by defendant that failure to light the station grounds is not alleged, nor was it alleged that failure to light was a cause of plaintiff's going where he did after he left the train, the contents of the petition as to these matters may best be shown by following the language used therein in that regard.

After pleading formal matters, and alleging that Walker D. Hines, as Director General of Railroads, was in charge and control of the operation of the train and property of the railroad company, and that plaintiff boarded and became a passenger on said train at Union Station in the city of St. Louis, at 6:35 p. m. on the evening in question, and the duty of the Director General, his agents, and employees to stop said train at and opposite the station, and at a place reasonably safe for passengers to get out of the train, the petition continues:

"Plaintiff further states that said Edgebrook Station is situated in St. Louis county, Mo., about 7.57 miles west of Union Station in the city of St. Louis, Mo., and that, about 300 feet west of the said Edgebrook Station, on the south side of the said line or railway, there was at said time what is known and called a section or tool house, and that, about 800 feet westwardly from said section or tool house, a road or passageway runs under said railroad tracks across said right of way, of about the width of 8 feet and of about the depth of 15 feet, over which the tracks of said railroad were extended`by means of a trestle or bridge, which said road or passageway was then and there uncovered and unguarded, and said trestle or bridge, though floored with ties placed solidly against each other, had no banisters or side handrails thereon, and by reason thereof the said trestle, or bridge, and premises at said point, and road and passageway under said tracks, were unsafe and dangerous and constituted a dangerous pitfall on the premises so controlled, and used, and operated by said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and at a place on said right of way and premises into which passengers leaving trains at said Edgebrook Station and Lake Junction Station and the mid William Otto Payne, leaving said train at the place he left same, were liable to resort to, and be, and attempt to cross and pass over, and were liable to fall and be precipitated into, and to be injured, and that said unsafe and dangerous place was so situated that the said William Otto Payne was liable to resort to, and be injured thereby, if put off and required, or permitted, to leave said train, as hereinafter stated, in the nighttime, and when it was dark, all of which said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and his said predecessor in office and their agents, servants, and employees so running and operating said railroad and passenger trains thereon, knew, or by the exercise of due care under the circumstances could have known, before the time said William Otto Payne was injured, as hereinafter stated.

"Plaintiff further states that said Edgebrook Station, so maintained, and used, and operated by said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and his predecessor in office, was so situated that a passenger being discharged thereat could leave the same, and said premises, by way of a passageway directly opposite the same and, on the north side of said railroad tracks, which led to a street and highway in the city of Maplewood, St. Louis county, Mo., and that westwardly from said Edgebrook Station there was no road, street, or passageway, or means of ingress or egress to and from defendant's said tracks and right of way, leading to a street or highway for a distance of about 1,500 feet, where there was a highway northwardly from another station known as Lake Junction Station, situated on said right of way and on the north side of said railroad tracks; that on the south side of said railroad tracks from said Edgebrook Station to said Lake Junction Station there was no road, street, or highway or passageway leading from said railroad right of way and premises.

"Plaintiff further states that said William Otto Payne was carried past said Edgebrook Station by the said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and his agents, servants, and employees in charge of and operating said train, and that the train upon which William Otto Payne was then and there riding and being carried as a passenger, as aforesaid, was stopped by the said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and his agents, servants, and employees in charge and operating the same, at a point on said railroad right of way a distance of about 400 feet westwardly, and past and beyond, said Edgebrook Station, and that said station was called, and said William Otto Payne was invited and directed by said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and his agents, servants, and employees in charge of and operating said train, to leave the same at said point, and near said section or tool house, and at a point about 1,100 feet eastwardly from said Lake Junction, and at a point about 800 feet eastwardly from said road and passageway, or bridge, and into which passageway the said William Otto Payne was caused to fall and to be injured, as hereinafter stated.

"Plaintiff further states that it was a dark night, and that it was then and there dark at said place, and there were no lights at or near said Edgebrook Station, nor at the place where said William Otto Payne was so invited, and required, and directed to leave and get off the train, nor were there any lights on and along, or near, said right of way between said Edgebrook Station and said Lake Junction Station, and that said William Otto Payne did not then and there know he had been carried past said station, and he was then and there unfamiliar with the surroundings at the place where he was so invited, directed, and required to, and did, leave said train, as aforesaid, and Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, his agents, servants, or employees, in charge of and operating said train, failed to inform him that he had been carried past said station, or of the place he was alighting from said train, and failed to inform him of said unsafe and dangerous place on said right of way and premises, and failed to warn him of the danger thereof, and failed to direct him bow to reach a place of safety, and that said William Otto Payne was then and there confused, and did not know or realize his exact location, and in order to leave said place, and premises, and right of way, and to extricate himself from the situation in which he had so been left by the said Walker D. Hines, Director General of Railroads, as aforesaid, and his agents, servants, or employees, in charge and operating said train, and seeing a light in a westwardly direction from the place where he was, and westwardly from the place he afterwards was injured, as hereinafter stated, and ascertaining that a pathway led westwardly along said tracks and...