Seamans v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad
Seamans v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad
Opinion of the Court
In granting the compulsory nonsuit in this case, the learned trial judge said, in substance, that when the deceased was within from thirty to forty feet from the railroad, he could have seen down the track at least a quarter and perhaps half a mile ; he had an opportunity to look and to listen. If he stopped and looked, he would have seen the approaching train; he must have seen it, even if he did not hear it. “ If he did not stop, and passed on, the rule of law would defeat this action.”
These reasons for granting the nonsuit appear to have been warranted by the undisputed evidence in the case, and are equally potent in support of the final judgment. While the case is in some respects a close one, we are not convinced that the learned court erred in refusing to take off the judgment of nonsuit.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Martha Jane Seamans v. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Railroads—Stop, look and listen — Grade crossing. In an action to recover damages for the death of a person killed at a grade crossing it appeared that no person saw the accident; that the body of the deceased was found upon the pilot of an engine near the crossing, and that a buggy in which the deceased started from his home was found broken to pieces near the crossing. The evidence showed that when the deceased was within from thirty to forty feet of the railroad he could have seen along the track at least a quarter and perhaps half a mile in the direction from which the engine came which struck him. Held, that a nonsuit was properly granted, inasmuch as the deceased would have seen the approaching train if he had stopped and looked.