Reigner v. Pennsylvania Railroad
Reigner v. Pennsylvania Railroad
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
We have here again to repeat what we have so often had occasion to say, that when one goes in front of a moving train of cars, which he has had ample opportunity to see and avoid, he is guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. True it is that when one upon a railroad track is run down and killed by a passing-train, the law will presume that before entering upon the track he did all that prudence for his safety would suggest, and what the law requires in all such cases—that he stopped, looked and listened. But this presumption, like every other, gives way before admitted facts with which it is irreconcilable. The facts in the present case, as we derive them from the evidence adduced on the part of the plaintiff, are these: Plaintiff’s husband ivas driving in an open buggy on the afternoon of December 29, 1915. As he approached a grade crossing of the defendant’s company’s tracks, four in number, and which he had been accustomed to cross and recross daily for at least sis weeks prior to the accident, he stopped at a point ninety feet distant from the nearest rail on the track he would encounter first in any attempt to cross over. At this point, had he looked, he could have seen up the track on which the train that struck him was run
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Reigner v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company
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- 4 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence—Railroads—Grade crossings—Vehicle driver—Death —Presumption—Stop, look and listen—Contributory negligence— Nonsuit. 1. When one goes in front of a moving train of cars which he has had ample opportunity to see and avoid, he is guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. 2. The presumption that one who is run down and killed by a passing train on a railroad track did all that prudence for his safety would suggest before entering upon the track, and that he stopped, looked and listened, like every other presumption, gives way to admitted facts with which it is irreconcilable. 3. It is the duty of a person about to cross railroad tracks to be observant so long as danger threatens; if between where the party stops and the tracks of the railroad the situation affords opportunity to discover an approaching train and injury results because of disregard of such opportunity, the original act of stopping cannot operate to relieve the injured of the consequences of contributory negligence. 4. In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for the death of plaintiff’s husband who was killed while driving a buggy over a grade crossing, deceased was guilty of contributory negligence and a compulsory nonsuit was properly entered where it appeared that he stopped, looked and listened at a point ninety feet distant from the nearest rail at a point where he had a view along the track upon which he was struck for 550 feet, whereas had he stopped at a point seventy-five feet beyond and twenty-five feet from the nearest track he would have had a clear view of the track for over 1,500 feet, and had he stopped before crossing the first track he could have seen the approaching train for a distance of three quarters of a mile.