United States Director General of Railroads v. Zanzinger

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit
• Citation: United States Director General of Railroads v. Zanzinger, 269 F. 552 (4th Cir. 1920)
• Decision Date: 16 November 1920
• Docket Number: 1801.
• Parties: UNITED STATES DIRECTOR GENERAL OF RAILROADS v. ZANZINGER.

269 F. 552

UNITED STATES DIRECTOR GENERAL OF RAILROADS v. ZANZINGER.

No. 1801.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

November 16, 1920

Robert M. Hughes, Jr., of Norfolk, Va., and F. M. Rivinus, of Philadelphia, Pa. (Hughes, Little & Seawell, of Norfolk, Va on the brief), for plaintiff in error.

John W Eggleston, of Norfolk, Va., and W. F. Purdy, of New York City (James M. Gorman, of New York City, Hughes, Vandeventer &amp Eggleston, of Norfolk, Va., and Macklin, Brown, Purdy & Van Wyck, of New York City, on the brief), for defendant in error.

Before KNAPP and WOODS, Circuit Judges, and SMITH, District Judge.

WOODS Circuit Judge.

Six tracks of the Norfolk & Western Railroad run along Twenty-Third street in the city of Norfolk, where they intersect at right angles with Parker avenue. On July 6, 1918, plaintiff, a Russian longshoreman, walking along Parker avenue, was struck as he was about to cross the sixth track by a locomotive and lost both legs. He recovered judgment in this action for $17,000.

Conceding that there was evidence from which the jury might find the defendant negligent in failing to comply with an ordinance of the city of Norfolk requiring the bell of a locomotive to be rung when approaching a street crossing, defendant asks for a reversal, contending that the District Judge should have directed a verdict on the ground that the evidence showed conclusively contributory negligence of the plaintiff.

The general circumstances of the accident are not in dispute. Parker avenue, at its intersection with Twenty-Third street, is not paved and is traveled only by pedestrians along well-defined footpaths made by constant use. The tracks on Twenty-Third street lead into defendant's coal yards, and many trains pass over them every day in both directions. The tracks of the Virginia Railway & Power Company run above Twenty-Third street on stanchions set in the street. Plaintiff was walking in the path on the east side of the street leading from his home north of the railroad tracks to his place of business south of the tracks. When he reached the northernmost track, after two moving trains had passed, he saw an engine standing and headed east on the southernmost or sixth track at the switch west of him, about 100 feet from the place of the accident. He had clear view of the engine until he reached the fifth track, about 60 feet from the first track crossed by him. From the fifth to the sixth track, a distance of 25 feet, his view was obstructed by the stanchions.

The plaintiff testified that he saw the engine standing still when he crossed the fifth track; that from that point his view of it was so cut off by the stanchions that he could not see it; that he listened, but did not hear the engine, and did not know it was moving until too late to escape. The finding of the jury that the defendant's engineer and fireman were guilty of one or both of two acts of negligence, failing to ring the bell of the locomotive and failing to keep a lookout on approaching the street, has abundant support in the testimony.

The defendant relies upon the photographs taken after the accident as showing conclusively that there was enough open view between the stanchions for the plaintiff to have seen the engine, if he had looked while walking from track 5 to track 6. The argument is that plaintiff's statement that he could not see the engine while walking by the stanchions was demonstrated to be untrue by the photographs, and therefore that the conclusion is inevitable, either that the plaintiff did not look at that point or that he saw the engine moving toward the crossing and took no heed of it.

Defendant also contends that plaintiff's testimony that he listened and did not hear the approaching engine is untrue, because if he had listened so near the engine he must have heard the noise of its movement and disregarded it.

We think the photographs do prove that it was possible for the plaintiff, if standing still, to see the engine by close and intent observation through the interstices. They also show the probability, but we cannot say the certainty, that he could have seen the engine while walking at an ordinary gait although very close to the stanchions. It is highly probable, also, that the plaintiff could have heard the approaching engine, if listening intently for its...