Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Short Line Railway v. Landesman
Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Short Line Railway v. Landesman
Opinion of the Court
J. The defendant in error, David Landesman, fell upon the railway track on one of the streets of the city of Toledo in the night season and was injured by a car of the plaintiff in error. A verdict and judgment were rendered in favor of the defendant in error, and the judgment was affirmed by this court.
We have made a careful examination of the reasons advanced by the plaintiff in error for a rehearing of this case. Upon consideration thereof, each member of the court adheres to the views entertained at the time the case was decided, and as expressed in the written opinions then filed.
Counsel for plaintiff in error have made a very careful review of cases decided by the supreme court, circuit courts and courts of appeals of this state upon the doctrine of the last clear chance. We have read the brief upon this subject with great interest and have given very careful consideration to this important subject. We will not undertake to enter into any discussion or analysis of the many cases commented upon, but will only state that we think that the correct rule is announced in the case of Drown v. Northern Ohio Traction Co., 76 Ohio St., 234, in which the court, on page 248, say:
“According to the better view with reference to injuries to travelers at highway crossings — as distinguished from injuries to trespassers and bare licensees upon railway tracks at places where they have no legal right to be — the servants of the railway company are bound to keep a vigilant lookout in front of advancing engines or trains, to the end of discovering persons exposed to danger on highway crossings; and the railway company will be liable for running over them if, by maintaining
We think that this principle is recognized and announced in the later case of Steubenville & Wheeling Traction Co. v. Brandon, 87 Ohio St., 187. The distinction to be drawn between cases where liability depends upon actual knowledge and those where liability rests upon a failure to exercise ordinary care in ascertaining, the dangerous situation of the plaintiff is found stated in the above cases; namely, actual knowledge may be necessary when the injured person is a trespasser upon tracks, or a mere licensee; whereas the defendant is bound to exercise ordinary care to ascertain the presence in a dangerous situation of one rightfully on the track and likely to be injured.
This court has recognized this distinction in a number of cases. We call attention to the case of The Cleveland, Painesville & Eastern Railroad Co. v. Stevenson, Admr. of the Estate of John S. Frischkorn, decided in Cuyahoga county on January 11, 1915. The opinion may be found in Volume 7, page 244, of the unpublished opinions of this court. In speaking of the duty of a motorman, upon an interurban car approaching a highway crossing in the open country, we said:
“It is his duty to keep a vigilant lookout in front of his advancing car that he may discover persons exposed to danger on highway crossings, and when he does discover, or in the exercise of ordinary care would discover, that persons will not refrain from going upon the crossing, it is his duty to exercise ordinary care t.o check or stop his car in order to avoid injuring them.”
The rule above announced took cognizance of the fact that one upon a highway crossing was not a trespasser upon the tracks of the defendant company. So, in the streets of a city, a pedestrian is not a trespasser upon the tracks of the company in attempting to cross such tracks, although not at a street intersection.
Especial attention has been called' to the case of Cincinnati Traction Co. v. Edwards, 22 C. C., N. S., 539. It is claimed that this case is in conflict with the decision announced in the case now under review, upon the question of last chance. Counsel say that certified copies of the pleadings and other papers are submitted with the brief, but we do not find them. In view of what Judge Gorman said concerning the pleadings and the evidence, we did not think it necessary to call on counsel to produce such copies,, it being plainly manifest that the case was not one of last chance.
We strongly feel that the decision of the supreme court in the case of Erie Rd. Co. v. McCormick, 69 Ohio St., 45, while no doubt correct, in view of the state of the pleadings and the facts in that case, ought not to be extended to cases of the character of the one at bar.
Many illustrations readily occur to one to show that to strictly apply the rule contended for by counsel for plaintiff in error, namely, that the driver of an engine or car must have actual knowledge of one not a trespasser being in a perilous
The application for rehearing will be denied.
Rehearing denied.
Concurring Opinion
I concur in the refusal of the application for rehearing.
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