Southern Ry. Co. v. Yancy

• Citation: 141 Ala. 246,37 So. 341
• Parties: SOUTHERN RY. CO. v. YANCY.
• Decision Date: 21 July 1904
• Court: Supreme Court of Alabama

37 So. 341

141 Ala. 246

SOUTHERN RY. CO. v. YANCY.

Supreme Court of Alabama

July 21, 1904

Appeal from City Court of Birmingham; W. W. Wilkerson, Judge.

Action by W. E. Yancy against the Southern Railway Company for personal injuries from being run over by a locomotive operated by defendant on its railroad. Judgment for plaintiff. Defendant appeals. Reversed.

The complaint, as amended, contained 13 counts. A demurrer was sustained to the second count, and after the introduction of all the evidence the court, at the written request of the defendant, gave the general affirmative charge in its favor as to counts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Therefore the cause was submitted to the jury only upon counts 1, 10, 11, 12, and 13. The first count of the complaint was in words and figures as follows: "First Count. The plaintiff claims of the defendant, a corporation, the sum of twenty thousand dollars as damages, for that heretofore, to wit, on the 7th day of June, 1896, the defendant was operating a railroad and running trains and locomotive engines thereon propelled by steam power, among other places to, in, and through the town of Oakman, in Walker county, Alabama, and that on said day the said defendant willfully, wantonly, and recklessly ran one of its said locomotive engines which it was then and there running and operating along, over, and upon its said railroad upon and against the plaintiff, breaking his left leg, bruising and lacerating his flesh, breaking his ribs perforating his lungs, and otherwise permanently injuring him, and he was thereby made to suffer great physical and mental pain, and rendered permanently less able to earn or provide a sustenance for himself and his family; and plaintiff avers that by reason of said injuries he was prevented from performing work or labor of any kind for a long time, his physical stamina was greatly and permanently impaired, and he was made to expend large sums of money and to incur great indebtedness and expense in an effort to preserve and save his life and effect his cure; all to his damage aforesaid. Wherefore he sues." The eleventh count, as far as is necessary to be here set out, were in words and figures as follows: "Eleventh Count. The plaintiff claims of the defendant, a corporation, engaged in the business of a common carrier of freight and passengers for hire and reward, the sum of twenty thousand dollars as damages for that heretofore, to wit, on the 7th day of June 1896, the plaintiff was passing along and upon the defendant's railroad track within the corporate limits of the town of Oakman, in Walker county, Alabama, proceeding from Coal Valley, in said county, to the defendant's depot or stopping place for its trains within said town of Oakman, for the purpose of becoming a passenger upon the defendant's east-bound passenger train then soon to be due; and the plaintiff avers that when he was at a point upon the defendant's said railroad track...