Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Locke
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Locke
Opinion of the Court
— This is an action by appellee against appellant to recover for personal injuries sustained by appellee while he was a passenger on one of appellant’s trains. The complaint was in two paragraphs. The first of these, after alleging that appellant owned and operated a line of railroad for the purpose of carrying passengers and freight, and that appellee became a passenger on one of appellant’s trains, alleged that, while he was being carried as such passenger by appellant, the car in which he was riding became'derailed, and that by reason thereof he was injured. It is charged and alleged that the portion of the track where the derailment occurred was defective; that the ties were rotten and unfit for use; that the rails were improperly laid and insecurely fastened to the ties, so that the rails were liable to spread and be pushed from their proper place, and thereby permit the train to be thrown from the track; that appellant negligently ran and operated said train along and over said defective and-unsafe portion of said track at a high -and dangerous rate of speed, and that, by reason of said defective and unsafe condition of the track and the operation of ■said train at said high rate of speed, the car in which appellee was riding was derailed,- and that appellee was thereby injured, without fault or negligence on his part.
The second paragraph of complaint, before being 'amended as hereinafter stated, was about the same as the first, save that the negligence charged in this paragraph was in substance that the track was im
Demurrers for want of facts were filed and overruled as to each of these paragraphs. An answer of general denial being filed, the cause was submitted to a. jury for trial. After appellee had introduced all his evidence, the appellant’s witnesses had testified that where the derailment occurred the ties and track were in good condition; that the first car derailed was a car immediately in front of the caboose in which appellee was riding (the train being a freight train); that this car was a large, new automobile car, and empty, not belonging to appellant, but being transported by it to be loaded at a station on appellant’s line; that this car was in good condition, but, being new, was stiff and liable to be derailed in going around a curve.
After all the evidence had been thus introduced as to the cause of the accident, appellee asked leave to amend his complaint by inserting therein that the track was “rough and uneven,” and “that one of the cars of said train was of great and unusual height and size, and was stiff and new, and was of
The court, over the objection and exception of appellant, permitted the amendments to be made for the purpose of making the complaint conform to the evidence given in the cause. An amended second paragraph of complaint was then filed, and appellant filed its verified motion for a continuance on the ground of surprise, and stating that, if a continuance was granted, it could and would produce evidence that it was not negligence to run said car in said train. This motion was overruled, and appellant filed a motion to strike out said amendments, which was also overruled, as was a demurrer for want of facts, an exception being saved by appellant to each adverse ruling. A general denial was filed to the amended second paragraph of complaint, and the trial proceeded, resulting in a verdict and judgment against appellant.
Appellant filed a motion for a new1 trial, the reasons therefor being that the verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence, that it is contrary to law, that the damages awarded'were excessive, that there was irregularity on the part of the court in allowing appellee to amend the second paragraph of complaint,
The errors assigned in this court and not waived are that the court erred in permitting appellee to amend his complaint, in overruling the motion for a continuance, and in the overruling of the motion for a new trial.
There was no error in overruling the motion for a continuance, as all of the evidence «could have been introduced under the allegations in the complaint prior to the amendment, and a recovery had thereon, without the amendments having been made.
The first, second and third specifications in appellant’s motion for a new trial also relate to the action of the court in permitting appellee to amend the second paragraph of complaint, and in overruling appellant’s motion for a continuance. Having already decided that the court committed no error in regard to these matters, we need give them no further consideration.
These remarks of counsel were improper, and were rendered doubly so by the action of the trial court in .approving them. The- tendency of such statements, and doubtless the purpose in making .them, was. to induce the jury to return a verdict for a larger amount than they otherwise would do. One-of, the specifications in the motion for a new trial is that the damages awarded are excessive, but appellant has wholly failed to present that question, and we are therefore justified in assuming that the damages assessed are not excessive, and that appellant has no objection to the amount of the award. That -being true, the statements of counsel were harmless. We do not want to be understood as approving the statements of counsel, nor as holding that-such statements, when deliberately made, as they were in this case, .-and approved by the trial court, do not constitute such misconduct of counsel as to be reversible error. We would not hesitate to reverse this case, on account of .-.such misconduct were it not for the fact that appellant is seemingly content with the amount of the verdict. There are other femarks of counsel
Complaint is made relative to the refusal of the court to give instructions Nos. 2 and 5 requested by appellant. No. 2 related to the proof required before a recovery could be had on- the second paragraph of complaint, and was not applicable to such paragraph after the same was amended. No. 5 is fully covered by No. 16, given by the court.
Objection is made to instructions Nos. 2, 3, 5 and 10 as given, in that the court unduly emphasized and repeated certain rules of law, but, after a careful consideration of these instructions, we do not find them open to the objection urged against them.
No. 6 is not open to the objection urged. The objection to No. 8 is that it was error to allow the amendment to be made to the second paragraph of complaint, and that it was therefore error to give this instruction. We hold otherwise.
We have examined the other contentions relative to the admission and exclusion of evidence, but find no reversible error. Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.