Gay v. Hurst
Gay v. Hurst
Opinion of the Court
Mrs. Eula Hurst, as administratrix of the estate of Orien A. Hurst, brought an action under the Federal employer’s liability act against C. E. Gay Jr., as receiver of the Savannah & Atlanta Eailway, for damages alleged to have been sustained by herself and her minor daughter, Eosalie Hurst, widow and daughter respectively of said Orien A. Hurst, who, while in the employ of said railroad as switchman, was killed by falling between two cars of a train of said railroad near Savannah, Ga.
The trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for $7,000,— $5,000 for the widow and $2^,000 for the daughter. The motion for a new trial contains the general and four special grounds. The first question for decision is whether or not the court erred in overruling the demurrer to the petition.
1. Omitting some of the formal allegations and some of the details that are not necessary for the purposes of this decision, the petition sets out substantially this case: Said railway owns, operates, and controls a railroad extending from Savannah, Ga., to Camak, Ga. Its switch-yard is located about three-quarters of a mile from Central Junction” terminal in Chatham county, Ga. Defendant’s main line runs in a northwesterly-southeasterly direction. To the southwest of said main track there are three or more switch-tracks about a mile in length, running parallel to said main track and leading into it.
At about 11 o’clock on the night of December 11, 1928, defendant’s freight-train from Camak arrived in said switch-yard. On the arrival of the train it was the duty of the switching-crew of engine 115, of which said Orien A. Hurst was a member, to remove
“The said death of Orien A. Hurst, your petitioner’s husband, with whom she was Giving at said time, and upon whom she was dependent for support, was and is due directly and proximately to the carelessness and negligence of the said switch-engine foreman in ordering and directing the said engineer . . to move his engine and train quickly out of said yards, and likewise to the carelessness and negligence of said engineer in suddenly applying a great force of steam to his engine as aforesaid, and in thus causing his engine and train of cars to jerk and lurch forward with
“14th. Petitioner as the administratrix of the said Orien A. Hurst therefore brings this suit against the said defendant for the benefit of Bula A. Hurst, surviving widow of Orien A. Hurst, and Bosalie Hurst, minor daughter of Orien A. Hurst and Bula Hurst, and says that by reason of the negligent homicide of the said Orien A. Hurst in the manner hereinbefore set out, the said defendant became liable to petitioner for the pecuniary loss sustained by said widow and said minor child, which loss this petitioner alleges is the sum of $30,000.”
Only grounds 1 and 4 of the demurrer are insisted upon by counsel for plaintiff in error. They are as follows: - “1. The allegations of the petition fail to set forth a cause of action against the defendant and said petition is insufficient in law.” “4. Defendant specially demurs to the 14th paragraph of the petition, upon the ground that no facts are alleged showing why “the pecuniary loss sustained by said widow and said minor child” amounts to the sum of $30,000. In their brief, counsel for plaintiff in error make this statement: “The general demurrer was based on the ground that the petition did not allege any unusual, unnecessary, or extraordinary jerk of the train from which the plaintiff’s husband fell.” We are well aware that in cases like this the employees assume the ordinary risks of their employment, and that it is essential for them to show that an alleged negligent jerk was unusual and unnecessary. See Central R. &c. Co. v. Sims, 80 Ga. 749 (2), 754 (7 S. E. 176); Ball v. Mabry, 91 Ga. 784 (18 S. E. 64); Augusta Ry. Co. v. Lyle, 4 Ga. App. 113 (60 S. E. 1075). However, if the facts alleged do show that the jerk was both unusual and unnecessary, the case is not destroyed merely because
2. We are aware that the measure of damages recoverable in a suit under the Federal employer’s liability act is the amount the deceased would have contributed to his legal beneficiaries if he had lived. Tallulah Falls Ry. Co. v. Davis, 26 Ga. App. 215 (1) (105 S. E. 712); Michigan Central Railroad v. Vreeland, 227 U. S. 59 (33 Sup. Ct. 192, 57 L. ed. 417, Ann. Cas. 1914C, 176); Am. Railroad v. Didricksen, 227 U. S. 145 (33 Sup. Ct. 224, 57 L. ed. 456). However, construing with the other allegations of the petition paragraph 14 hereinbefore set out, we are satisfied that the special demurrer was properly overruled, and we so hold.
Before proceeding to discuss the grounds of the motion for a new trial, we deem it proper to set 'out the gist of the defendant’s answer and some of the testimony in the case.
The answer admitted that C. E. Gay Jr. was receiver as alleged: admitted that the Savannah & Atlanta Railway owned and operated said line of railway, switch-yard, engine, and cars; admitted jurisdiction; admitted that decedent and defendant were engaged in interstate commerce; denied that it was the duty of decedent to get on top of the cars and proceed to the rear of the-train; admitted the •arrangement of the switch-yard and tracks as pleaded in the petition; admitted that the train in question was composed of twenty-six cars and had to be switched as-alleged in the petition; and, after denying the other material allegations of the petition, further set out that the decedent met his death accidentally and without any fault on the part of the defendant, his agents and employees, and -that sitting and walking on top- of the cars were'.the ordinary risks of Hurst’s employment, and were -assumed by him. Mrs. Eula
Henry Wright testified: that Orien A. Hurst was killed on a clear night; that when he first noticed the train it was moving slowly on the main track; that he saw a man with a lantern in his hand get up on a lumber ear; that the man was Orien A. Hurst; that he set his lantern down about the middle of the car on top of the lumber with which it was loaded and walked towards the rear of the train; that witness heard a squeaking noise such as a tight brake would make; that “just before he got-to the end the engine jerked off in a kind of a strong swinging movement, or jerking, that way,” and the cars bumped together; that there was an exhaust from the engine and the cars bumped together; that just as the car jerked, Hurst went towards the end of the car in a kind of falling position; that the train moved fast after the jerk; that when Hurst started falling he was five or six feet from the end of the car; that witness did not see the result of the fall, and did not know what became of Hurst until he was ordered to pick up the fragments of his body the next morning; that the noise he heard indicated that the brake was set, and that in such a case it would be the duty of a switchman to go and see about it; and that if he did that, he would have to set his lantern down. T. W. Parker testified: that he was switch-engine foreman, and was in charge of making up all trains; that there was no unusual exhaust when the engine started; that if there was any jerk he could not tell it from where he was; that there was plenty of water in the engine but
Frank Warren, a switchman, testified that the engineer sent a message by him to Mr. Parker, the switch-foreman — told him to “tell some of them I am about out of water,” and that he would have to “make it snappy;” that witness told Parker about the water; that he found Hurst’s lantern sitting back of the first cleat across the end of the last car after the train had arrived in Savannah, and that it was then that they could not find Hurst and went back and found his body; that when a brake is set it is the switch-man’s duty to go and unloose it. P. H. Googe testified that there
A photograph, which was in evidence, disclosed a ñatear loaded with lumber which was held in place by upright pieces of timber with strips nailed to the top of them across the lumber. The top of the lumber was comparatively smooth, and the last two crosspieces nailed to the two upright strips ran over the lumber very near the end of the car.
The first two grounds of the amendment to the motion for a new trial are elaborations of the general grounds.
3. The third special ground complains of this excerpt from the charge of the court: “All that I can tell you is that plaintiff in this case must recover, if he recovers at all, upon satisfying your minds by the greater weight of evidence that the accident occurred in the way set out in the petition, that is that the engine and entire string of freight cars was lurched forward suddenly and with great force and violence, and that this caused the death of the intestate.” The foregoing charge is alleged to be erroneous, (1) because it left out of consideration the fact that plaintiff would have to show that the jerk or lurch was unusual and unnecessary and could not reasonably have been anticipated by the intestate, (2) because the charge excluded from the consideration of the jury whether the jerk was unusual and unnecessary under the attendant circumstances, and whether or not the act mentioned constituted negligence, and (3) because the effect of the charge was to summarize what the court had already charged, and limit and qualify the court’s previous instructions upon the assumption of risks and the duty of the decedent to exercise ordinary care to avoid the consequences of the defendant’s negligence.
The court had previously charged fully and fairly the contentions of the parties, and as to assumption of risk, comparative negligence, and the burden of proof, and the court instructed the jury that if Hurst was “thrown from the ear by an ordinary jerk of the freight-train,” the plaintiff could not recover, and.that the plaintiff could not recover unless the defendant was negligent as alleged and such
The rule applicable to charges like the foregoing is properly expressed in the case of Georgia Ry. & Power Co. v. Britt, 31 Ga. App. 54 (119 S. E. 460), in this language: “Erroneous instructions by the court to the jury as to the rule of law on a material issue in the case are cause for a new trial, although the correct rule be given in another part of the charge, unless the judge calls attention to the erroneous instructions and specifically withdraws-them, or unless fit can with perfect safety and fairness be said that the jury were not misled to the injury of the complaining party’.” It will be observed that it is true that the plaintiff certainly could not have recovered except under the conditions set out in the charge complained of. The court was apparently trying to emphasize the fact that the plaintiff could only recover by proving the main act of negligence alleged in the petition. We do not think that this excerpt had the effect of leading the jury to believe that the plaintiff could recover by merely showing that the decedent’s death was caused by the sudden lurch' of the train. Neither do we believe that this charge destroyed the other opposite portions of the instructions of the court upon the material features of the case. We do not think that it is reasonable to conclude that the jury thought that this excerpt was a summation of the court’s previous instructions. In short, we are of the opinion that “it can with perfect safety and fairness be said that the jury were not misled to the injury of the complaining party,” and that this ground discloses no reversible error.
4. We shall next discuss the ground based upon alleged newly discovered evidence, the general tenor of which was that plaintiff’s main witness, Henry Wright, was not in or near the switch-yard on the night Hurst was killed, and therefore knew nothing about the occurrence. J. A. McLeod, chief engineer of the Savannah & Atlanta Railway, made an affidavit that a map attached to the motion for a new trial, which purported to show the arrangement of the switch-yard and to give distances between certain points, was correct. The affidavit of T. W. Parker, the switch-engine foreman, was that the map showed correctly the place where the body of
Each member of the firm of Hitch, Denmark & Lovett signed an affidavit to the effect that Messrs. Denmark and Lovett had sole charge of the preparation and trial of the case; that an investigation of Hurst’s death was made by P. H. Googe and G. T. Nalley; that Googe was especially charged with the duty of making such investigations, and Nalley was accustomed to assist him in so doing; that the train crew of the train from which Hurst fell also assisted in the investigation; that certain statements of the train crew and others as to how the accident occurred and a copy of all the testimony at the coroner’s inquest were furnished counsel, and that the file did not disclose that Henry Wright or any other person saw Hurst after he boarded the train; that in discussing the case one of the plaintiff’s counsel insisted that the defendant was liable because of certain testimony adduced at the inquest to the effect that the water in the engine was low, but that such counsel never disclosed to the counsel for plaintiff in error with whom he was talking that Wright, or any one else, saw Hurst after he boarded the train; that the newly discovered evidence did not become material until after Wright testified, “and could not have been obtained between such time and the end of the trial, and was not known by affiants until after the verdict in said case had been returned,” and that “for the reasons stated the same could not have been discovered by the exercise of ordinary diligence.”
The verdict in the case was rendered on 'November 21, 1929, and it appears from the bill of exceptions that the subpoena docket showed that a subpoena had been issued for Wright on November 19, 1929.
It appears from the record that the chief investigator, P. H. Googe, whose duty it was to investigate the homicide and who did investigate it, testified at the trial, but made no affidavit bearing upon the ground for a new trial based upon newly discovered
It is true that “although newly discovered evidence may be somewhat cumulative of testimony previously introduced, and impeaching in its character, the real ultimate criterion by which the merit of such testimony should be measured is the probability of a different result.” Paden v. State, 17 Ga. App. 112 (86 S. E. 287). But it is equally true that motions for a new trial upon the ground of newly discovered evidence are not favored, and “are tolerated where it is apparent that grave injustice would result unless the newly discovered evidence is admitted on another trial; and only when it is clear that ordinary diligence could not have discovered the evidence sought to be adduced, and that a different result, in view of the discovery, ought to obtain.” Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Clark, 15 Ga. App. 16 (2) (82 S. E. 600). In his judgment overruling the motion for a new trial the presiding judge stated that he was not - satisfied “that the evidence could not have been discovered before or at the trial of the case.” After a careful analysis of the record we do. not feel authorized to say that the court’s conclusion was not correct. We have gone somewhat fully into this ground because of the fact that- it covers by far the greater part of the motion for a new trial and is greatly stressed by counsel. Our conclusion is that the court did not err in overruling the ground of the motion for a new trial which is based upon newly discovered evidence.
5. The last question presented is whether or not the court erred
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GAY, receiver v. HURST, administratrix
- Cited By
- 2 cases
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- Published