Tucker v. Chicago & G.T.R. Co.
| Decision Date | 02 December 1899 |
| Citation | 80 N.W. 984,122 Mich. 149 |
| Parties | TUCKER v. CHICAGO & G. T. RY. CO. |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
Error to circuit court, Eaton county; Clement Smith, Judge.
Action by Servetus H. Tucker against the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railway Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant brings error. Reversed.
About three-quarters of a mile westerly of Bellevue station plaintiff, while riding in a top buggy, drawn by two gentle horses, with its sides and back closed, was struck upon the highway crossing by the defendant's fast train, running at the rate of from 45 to 55 miles an hour. His daughter (15 years old) and his horses were killed, and he was seriously injured. For this injury he brought suit, and recovered a verdict upon the ground that the statutory signals were not given. Defendant's roadbed runs in a southwesterly direction. The highway approaches it from the north and east at an acute angle. Plaintiff was driving westerly, and the train was westward bound. Plaintiff testified: That when about 93 feet from the track he stopped, looked, and listened, and neither heard nor saw a train. He walked his horses a few feet, and then started them in a trot at a gait of about 5 miles an hour, and neither saw nor heard the train, nor heard any signals, before he was struck. That he sat upon the right of the buggy, and his daughter upon the left, towards the approaching train. That he was familiar with the crossing, and regarded it as a dangerous one. That he told his daughter to keep watch. That she leaned forward with one hand on the dashboard, looked in the direction of the approaching train, but gave no notice to him of its approach. The hearing and the eyesight of both were good. It is demonstrated by the plaintiff's own evidence that, at a point 100 feet northerly in the highway from the center of the track, one could see a man on the track 825 feet easterly of the crossing, and a train or engine 1,073 feet from the crossing. According to the defendant's testimony, from actual experiments, the train would be visible for about 1,500 feet. It is also conclusively established that at any point in the highway within 75 feet of the crossing the train was plainly visible as far as the station.
E. W. Meddaugh (Geer & Williams, of counsel), for appellant.
Powers & Stine, for appellee.
GRANT C.J. (after stating the facts).
Plaintiff himself did not look or listen while going 93 feet. A look at...
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