Groner v. Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.
Groner v. Delaware & Hudson Canal Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
If the jury’s attention was not called to all the questions of law involved in this case, it was not the fault of learned counsel on either side. It appears that forty-two points for charge —fourteen by plaintiff and twice that number by defendant— were presented and fully answered by the learned president of the court. In the main, his answers appear to have been satisfactory to both parties, for tbe only subjects of complaint here are bis refusal to affirm defendant’s nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-third and twenty-eighth points, respectively, as presented. In the latter he was requested to charge: “ Under all the evidence in this case the verdict of the jury must be for the defendant.” This he very properly refused to do, for the very good reason that the evidence tended strongly to
For reasons above suggested, there was no error in the learned judge’s answers to either of the points recited in the first three specifications, in which he was substantially requested to say that, under certain facts and circumstances therein stated, the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence and could not recover. The facts and circumstances, of which these points are respectively predicated, were neither admitted nor established by undisputed evidence, and hence it would have been manifest error to have affirmed them without qualification.
Referring to the twentieth point, the learned judge said, in substance: If this means to ask us to say, as matter of law, that it was physically impossible for plaintiff not to have seen the train approaching the crossing, we cannot affirm it. “ If it means, — and we so understand it to mean, — that if you find that it was a physical impossibility for her not to see this train moving, if she looked, we think the point is well taken. As we read the point, we think it asks us to say that it is shown by the undisputed testimony that it was a physical impossibility, and we decline to say that. That is a matter for you and not for the court.” This was clearly correct.
There is nothing in the undisputed facts of this case, as they appear from the testimony, to bring it within the principle of Carroll v. Railroad Co., 2 Penny. 159, and that line of cases.
Neither of the specifications of error is sustained.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- [Marked to be reported.] Negligence — Grade crossing — Stop, look and listen. In an action to recover damages for personal injuries caused by collision with a train at a grade crossing, it appeared that plaintiff and her husband were driving along a highway, and that at a point in the middle of a bridge one hundred and thirty feet from the crossing, they stopped, looked and listened, and then drove on and were run into by a train backing from the south. The train consisted of a number of cars, and was about one hundred and sixty feet long. In the southeast corner made by the intersection of the highway and the railroad was an engine house extending in length along the railroad fifty-eight feet, and along the highway twenty feet. From fifty to seventy feet south of the engine house on the east side of the railroad some works began called “ high works,” which some of the witnesses testified obstructed the view of the track from the middle of the bridge. Both plaintiff and her husband testified that when they stopped they saw no cars. Plaintiff’s husband testified that between the engine house and the high works he could see down the track for about sixty rods. Defendant’s witnesses denied this. From the middle of the bridge, the engine house partly obstructed the view of the track for about seventy-four feet. There was evidence that no signal was given as the train backed to the crossing. Held, that the case was a proper one to submit to the jury,