St. Louis S. F. R. Co. v. Casselberry
St. Louis S. F. R. Co. v. Casselberry
Opinion of the Court
Appellee while engaged in the service of appellant as a brakeman, and while so engaged, was injured by the negligence of appellant’s servants. Appellant is a Missouri corporation, and the accident occurred in Oklahoma. Defendant pleaded the general issue, and denied having any representative in Texas. A trial resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
The first assignment of error complains of the action of the court in overruling appellant’s motion to quash the depositions of several witnesses on the ground that proper service of notice had not been given.
The third and fourth assignments are presented together. The third complains of the fourth paragraph of the court’s charge, presenting discovered peril, which charge we think is correct. The fourth complains of the refusal to give a special charge, as follows: “If you believe from the evidence that the plaintiff was seen on the track of defendant’s railroad in front of the switch engine, and that the employés of defendant on said engine saw and realized plaintiff’s perilous position and made an effort to stop the engine, but by reason of excitement and agitation they failed to accomplish their purpose, you will return a verdict in favor of-defendant.”
The sixth assignment raises practically the same question as is raised in the fore *1162 going. In presenting the issue of discovered peril, we think the court fully informed the jury as to appellant’s duty and the care necessary to be exercised by the servants.
The sixth assignment complains of the refusal to give the following charge, viz.: “At the request of the defendant, you are instructed that it would not become the duty of the employés operating said engine to undertake to stop same until they recognized and understood that the object which they saw ahead of them, upon the track, was a human being; and in this connection you are further instructed that if you find and believe from the evidence that after said employés, or any of them, who saw said object, recognized and understood that the same was a human being, it was too late to cause said engine to be stopped by the use of the means at hand, you will find for the defendant.”
We are of the opinion that this phase of the case was covered by the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the court’s charge, and the jury could well have understood that the employés were to use care until plaintiff was recognized, or that the object seen by them was a human being.
We think the seventh assignment is without merit.
The evidence shows that appellee was sitting on defendant’s track near the depot at Hugo, Okl. Appellant’s employés were doing some switching. Some of them were standing on the footboard of the engine which was moving backwards, and struck appellee and injured him. They saw him in time, by the use of the means at hand, to have prevented hurting him.
The verdict and judgment were warranted under the facts, and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- St. Louis S. F. R. Co. v. Casselberry. [Fn1]
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- 3 cases
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- Published