Hobbet v. Thomson
Hobbet v. Thomson
Opinion of the Court
An action by Andrew Hobbet, as administrator of the estate of his deceased ■fifteen year old son, against Charles M. Thomson, trustee in bankruptcy for reorganization of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company, and H. O. Sexy, section foreman on said railway, to recover damages for alleged negligently causing the death of decedent in a railway grade crossing accident in Humboldt County, Iowa, about two miles east of the town of Thor. The action was begun in a State Court and timely removed to this Court upon the ground of diversity of citizenship and the requisite jurisdictional amount involved. The accident occurred on the 8th of August, 1942, at between nine and ten o’clock in the forenoon.
Plaintiff charges only one ground of negligence, which is not in operation, but in maintenance of way. It is charged that defendant permitted weeds to grow upon the right of way to such extent as to obscure entirely the view of approaching trains by ‘persons traveling upon an intersecting highway. The defendant Thomson answered denying negligence and pleading contributory negligence upon the part of decedent. The defendant Sexy filed a demurrer, which was treated as a motion to dismiss. A jury was waived and the cause proceeded to trial to the Court. The particular branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway involved passes through Humboldt County in an easterly and westerly direction, and is intersected at the point of the accident by a county graded and graveled highway passing over the crossing at grade. The highway was substantially level and crossed the railway at right angles.
The evidence shows a growth of weeds on the south side of the railway right of way very high, some wild hemp reaching a height of approximately eight feet. The highest part of the weeds was two or three hundred feet east of the highway line. Decedent, whose parents lived in the town of Thor, was working for a farmer whose land lay both north and south of the railway. The boy was engaged in hauling refuse from the farm yard where a building had been removed, into a field south of the track, using the highway to reach the south field. He was hauling the refuse with a tractor trailing a manure spreader. He returned from the field after spreading the refuse, along a beaten track close to the railway right of way south fence running out onto the highway. The morning west bound passenger train was about twenty minutes late and due to pass over the crossing. The decedent drove from the field out onto the highway and turned north and attempted to cross the railway track. The tractor nearly cleared but the approaching train struck at the coupling between the tractor and the manure spreader, tossing them both aside and so injuring the boy that he died -within twenty
Defendant Thomson’s motion at the close of all of the evidence to dismiss, and defendant Sexy’s independent motion to dismiss, must both be sustained. It will be so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HOBBET v. THOMSON
- Status
- Published