Wallace v. Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company
| Decision Date | 21 May 1964 |
| Docket Number | No. 15398.,15398. |
| Citation | 332 F.2d 97 |
| Parties | Marion C. WALLACE, Administratrix of the Estate of Carl A. Wallace, Deceased, and The Travelers Insurance Company, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
Harlan Dodson, Nashville, Tenn. (Hooker, Keeble, Dodson & Harris, Nashville, Tenn., on the brief), for appellant.
Jerry C. Colley, Columbia, Tenn., and Samuel McP. Glasgow, Jr., Nashville, Tenn. (MacFarland & Colley, Columbia, Tenn., Glasgow & Adams, Nashville, Tenn., of counsel), for appellee.
Before WEICK, Chief Judge, and MILLER and EDWARDS, Circuit Judges.
The action in the District Court was brought by plaintiff, as administratrix of her deceased husband, to recover damages for his wrongful death arising out of a grade crossing accident occurring in Dresden, Tennessee. Jurisdiction was based on diversity of citizenship. The case was tried before a jury resulting in a verdict in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $35,000.
The only question presented in this appeal was whether the District Court erred in denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict.
The complaint charged common law negligence on the part of the railroad in operating its train at a high and excessive rate of speed, at a blind and dangerous crossing that was not properly marked, and without maintaining a proper lookout ahead. The railroad answered that it was not negligent in any respect and that plaintiff's decedent was contributorily negligent.
The decedent was driving a truck, towing another truck, in a northerly direction on a gravel road which became Linden Street as it entered the southerly limits of Dresden. The road was 16 feet in width and became paved about 195 feet south of the railroad crossing at about the bottom of a steep hill. The tracks crossed the road at the crest of the hill. In proceeding up the hill, vision to the west was obscured by a wooden building about 10 feet × 17 feet and 8½ feet high. This building was located about 30 feet south of the crossing and 9 feet west of the road. A sawmill building was located about 42 feet southwest of the wooden building. There were some bushes and small saplings along the westerly side of Linden Street. There was a crossbuck sign located on the railroad right of way about 9½ feet south of the tracks. This sign was partially obscured by the wooden building and could not be fully seen until the building was passed. No warning signs were located on the easterly or right side of the road in the direction in which decedent was traveling. The tracks became visible near the crest of the hill. Within 30 feet south of the tracks there was unobstructed vision to the west and east for about three quarters of a mile. The train was coming from the west at the rate of about 45 miles an hour and collided with the cab of the truck which decedent was driving. There was testimony that the trucks were moving slowly and also that their speed was 30 miles an hour. It was not controverted that the whistle and bell on the train were blowing and ringing at the time. The day was cold and cloudy. The windows of the truck were rolled up.
Decedent lived at Centerville, Tennessee about 120 miles from Dresden. For several months prior to the accident he was foreman on a road building project south of Dresden. He lived for three to five weeks at a boardinghouse on Poplar Street in that city north of the tracks. In going to his place of employment, however, the closest route was over another crossing more than one quarter of a mile west of the crossing where the accident occurred.
No one saw decedent drive over the crossing in question prior to the accident His widow, however, signed a statement to the effect that shortly before the accident they drove over this crossing, but at the trial she was not sure about it.
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