Quilantan v. The Union Pacific Railroad Company and Walker D. Hines

• Decision Date: 07 May 1921
• Docket Number: 23,150
• Parties: CARLOS QUILANTAN, Appellant, v. THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY and WALKER D. HINES, as Director General of Railroads, Appellees
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

197 P. 1095

109 Kan. 111

CARLOS QUILANTAN, Appellant, v. THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY and WALKER D. HINES, as Director General of Railroads, Appellees

No. 23,150

Supreme Court of Kansas

May 7, 1921

Decided January, 1921.

Appeal from Wyandotte district court, division No. 3; WILLIAM H MCCAMISH, judge.

Judgment affirmed.

SYLLABUS

SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.

1. NEGLIGENCE--Injury to Trackman--Assumption of Risk. The facts disclosed by the plaintiff's own testimony show that in remaining on the track until struck by the defendants' engine, he took his chances--assumed the risk.

2. SAME--No Actionable Negligence of Defendants Shown. The record also shows that the defendants were not guilty of negligence in failing to warn the plaintiff of the approach of the train which injured him.

3. SAME--Instructions. No error is found in the instructions given.

Charles E. Thompson, and H. F. Gorsuch, both of Kansas City, W. W. McCanles, F. M. Kennard, and S. L. Trusty, all of Kansas City, Mo., for the appellant.

R. W. Blair, T. M. Lillard, and O. B. Eidson, all of Topeka, for the appellees.

OPINION

WEST, J.:

The plaintiff sued under the Federal employer's liability act to recover for an injury caused by being struck by one of the defendants' engines. He recovered, but the court set the verdict aside and rendered judgment for the defendants. The plaintiff appeals and assigns as error certain instructions given, rendering judgment for the defendants on the findings of fact, and the refusal of a new trial.

He alleged that he was a trackman in the employ of the defendants, the railroad company and the director general, working upon the railroad tracks at Topeka, cleaning and repairing them, when one of the defendants' freight trains carelessly, negligently and without warning to plaintiff was carelessly run against him, knocking him down and crushing his left leg so that it was amputated about four inches below the knee; that when the train was approaching, those operating it gave him no warning of any kind; that they knew or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known that he was working upon the track; and that they negligently failed to inform him that such train would pass along the track and negligently failed to provide means of notifying him thereof when they knew or should have known that in conducting his business he could not do the work required of him and at the same time watch in both directions for the approach of trains. He further alleged that they saw him in a place of danger, or by the exercise of reasonable care should have seen him, and had an opportunity to warn him of their approach in time to avoid injury, but they carelessly failed to stop the train or reduce its speed when they knew, or by the exercise of reasonable care should have known, that if they continued to operate it at the rate it was going, it would strike and injure the plaintiff.

The plaintiff testified that he was fifty-two years old.

"My name is Carlos Quilantan. Was working in Topeka at the time I got hurt. Was cleaning yards and track. There were three tracks where I got hurt. Was north of the tool house. About twenty meters west of the Rock Island crossing. Had been working on the middle track before I got hurt, about a half hour. Moved from the main track to get out of way of the switch engine that was going to stop there. When the switch engine come we were all working around there and the others went to one side and I went to the north side. Had been working at that place about a half hour before I was struck. Switch engine was just to one side of me when I got hurt. Switch engine was standing there making noise, blowing steam out. That was the reason I had not felt the other engine coming. The time I got hurt was working between rails on the north track.

"Q. Which way were you facing? A. Towards the depot. The depot was towards Kansas City.

"Q. You were looking towards Kansas City? A. Yes.

"Q. Now, state to the jury what position you were in at the time you got hurt. A. I was stooping over working when this happened. I didn't know what it was. I was cleaning the inside of the track. The train that hit me did not give any signal or blow any horn, or whistle or ring any bell. If I had heard it I wouldn't have been standing there. The trains always stop before they cross the Rock Island crossing. All trains blow whistles there.

"Q. Just tell the jury what happened to you. A. I was working there and the first I knew was when the train hit me. I just fell over and fainted. I didn't know any more. I just made a jump to the side when I felt it hit me, when I felt bad. I didn't know what happened then, as I fainted."

On cross-examination he testified:

"Had been in railroad work before for one year more.

"Q. You knew that trains were supposed to run over those tracks and would run over them very frequently, didn't you? A. Yes, sir.

"Q. You knew that you section men were supposed to watch out for them and not get in a position where you would not know of their coming, didn't you? A. Yes.

"Q. The yards there at Topeka where you were working are busy yards and a great many engines going back and forth? A. Yes; daily they do, they pass.

"Q. Hearing and sight was good at that time? A. Don't read and write. Was hurt about 2 in the afternoon. Daylight and a clear day. Blowing a little. Was very hot. Switch engine had been there about a half hour. Just standing. Switch engine standing more or less about ten minutes. Had all been working on the middle track up to a few minutes before I was hurt. Was working between the rails with a shovel. Had my face towards the station at Topeka. I had my back to where the train was coming from.

"Q. You understood that you were supposed to watch out for trains coming? Why weren't you keeping a lookout in both directions? A. I was doing it, but at this particular time I straightened up and just as I straightened up I didn't have time.

"Q. You straightened up; you mean you had quit working with your shovel and stood straight? A. Yes; I just straightened up and as I straightened up I didn't know what happened.

"Q. What did you straighten up for? A. Because there is always a suspicion that--except when I straightened up it was too late.

"Q. You were thinking about trains and straightened up with the idea you would look around and watch for them, did you? A. Yes, sir.

"Q. But by the time you straightened up and got ready to look you had been struck? A. I didn't have time then. I didn't know how the engine threw me down then.

"Q. The details of just how it happened you don't remember, do you? A. No, sir, I don't remember more than just I received a blow, what happened. The switch engine was standing there even with me. It was blowing steam up. It was the motive or reason I did not hear.

"Q. You think the noise of this switch engine was the reason you did not hear the train coming from the west, do you? A. Yes, sir."

Other witnesses testified that the plaintiff was standing not between the rails of the track but at one side. The jury found the defendants guilty of negligence consisting in "not sufficient warning and failure to stop the engine."

"Q. 4. Was the plaintiff at the time of his injury an experienced section man? A. Yes.

"Q. 5. Did the plaintiff know, or in the use of ordinary care should he have known, the risks and dangers of being struck by engines passing over the track at the point where he was struck? A. Yes."

They also found that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence and that he was not aware of the approach of the engine in time to get off the track before it struck him. They found that he sustained $ 8,000 damages, but, on account of his contributory negligence, they returned a verdict for $ 4,000.

The trial court stated that the findings of the jury amounted to a finding that the plaintiff assumed the ordinary risks of the employment. The court was of the opinion that while he assumed the risk incident to the work, he did not assume the risk of being run down after he was seen in a place of danger and it became apparent that he would not or could not protect himself, and that the evidence did not warrant submitting to the jury the question of last clear chance.

Counsel say in their brief:

"The plaintiff did not assume the risk of being deliberately run down and maimed by an engineer running his engine at two or three miles an hour in broad daylight when the engineer saw the plaintiff stooped over in a position of danger and oblivious of his danger. The plaintiff did not assume the risk of the fireman's negligence, who testified that he saw the plaintiff looking in an opposite direction close to the track. . . . The plaintiff did not assume the negligence of the conductor in charge of the train, who got into the gangway 200 feet away from the plaintiff and who saw the plaintiff in the position of danger and peril and did not instruct the engineer to blow a warning or stop the engine before running over the...