Lowry v. Southern Railway Co.
Lowry v. Southern Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
Plaintiff’s intestate/Chas. J. Lowry, was killed in the yards of the defendant railway company on or about the 26th day of June, 1914, at Citico, near Chattanooga, while engaged as a yard inspector, track hand, and general repair servant for the defendant. Just previous to the accident he was inspecting a car,, to ascertain if it needed attention of any kind, when a rain came up.
It is averred in the declaration that it was customary for the men working in the yards of the company to go under cars left standing on the tracks during a shower; that in accordance with this custom Lowry went under a car, in order to keep out of the rain. It is further averred that it was a custom of the railroad that, in case of cars coming into the yards, signals would be set up or orders given that the cars should be inspected while on the tracks before they were moved; that there was a rule, regulation, or system, provided by law, ordinances, and rules, that in case a car was rolled into the yard, and left standing, before that car would be moved, that notice would be given by the blowing of the whistle of the engine, the ringing of a bell, and giving general notice to the crew in and about the car that the same was going to be moved; that this rule was required by the federal and State laws, and by the Interstate Commerce Commission, and was cov
Defendant moved the court to require the plaintiff to make her declaration more specific, and to designate the names of the alleged vice principals, foremen, or fellow servants who are alleged to have been careless, negligent, and unmindful of their duties; and, second, that plaintiff be required to make her declaration more specific, so as to allege and set out what particular rules and regulations for the prevention of accidents were violated by said vice principals, foremen, and fellow servants of the deceased. Whereupon the court ordered that the plaintiff make her declaration more specific upon these points, to which action she excepted, for the reason that the information required of her by this order is peculiarly within the knowledge and custody of the defendant itself. Plaintiff thereupon filed an amended declaration, but failed to comply with the order made upon her by the • court, whereupon the defendant moved to dismiss the case, because of plaintiff’s failure to so comply, and the court granted the motion, and dismissed the suit, to which action the plaintiff excepted, and appealed to the court of civil appeals. That court reversed the action of the trial judge and remanded the case to the court below for further proceedings.
We think the trial judge was in error in granting the motion of the railway company to require plaintiff to
In the case of May v. Railroad, 129 Tenn., 521, 167 S. W., 477, L. R. A., 1915A, 781, the present chief justice of this court'pointed out proper rules of practice with respect to this question and reviewed former cases in this State upon the subject. The court reviewed somewhat at length the authorities from other jurisdictions upon this particular question.
We will not undertake to review the subject here. It is sufficient to say that this court recognizes the right in a proper case and upon the proper showing of a defendant to require the plaintiff to state with greater particularity as to time or other material averment, so as to give necessary notice to the defendant; and it is true that when so required plaintiff’s suit will be dismissed if he fails to comply, unless he shows that he is unable to state the date or fix the particular facts more definitely.
Having in mind the rules of practice as stated in May v. Railroad, supra, we are of opinion that plaintiff should not have been required to comply with defendant’s motion. This motion was not supported by anything, so far as the record discloses, showing any necessity for a more specific statement of the cause
The declaration does state that the employees failed to sound a whistle, ring a bell, or pursue any other method of warning to the deceased that the cars were about to be moved. It states with sufficient certainty that there were rules requiring this. We think this was sufficient on the point in question to give the defendant reasonable notice of the grounds upon which the action was predicated.
The judgment of the court of civil appeals, in reversing the case and remanding it for further proceedings in the court below, is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.