Pecos & N. T. Ry. Co. v. Rosenbloom
Pecos & N. T. Ry. Co. v. Rosenbloom
Opinion of the Court
Mrs. M. A. Rosenbloom, for herself and as next friend for her minor children, Milton and Matilda Rosenbloom, and for the use and benefit of Minnie and Isaac Rosenbloom, mother and father of her deceased husband, M. A. Rosenbloom, sued the Pecos & Northern Texas Railway Company in the district court of Potter county, Tex., to recover damages alleged to have resulted from the negligent killing of M. A. Rosen-bloom while he was engaged in the service of appellant. From a judgment based on the verdict of a jury, rendered on September 13, 1910, in favor of appellees, for the gross sum of $7,000, and apportioned $2,000 each to the surviving wife and the two children and $500 each to the mother and father of deceased, appellant has appealed to this court.
Appellee’s third amended petition, on which they went to trial, was filed on June 8, 1910, and, as grounds of negligence on the part of appellant and right of recovery by appellees, alleged, in substance, that Mrs. M. A. Rosen-bloom is the surviving wife of M. A. Rosen-bloom, deceased, and Milton Rosenbloom and Matilda Rosenbloom are their minor children; that Isaac Rosenbloom and Minnie *177 Rosenbloom are the father and mother of deceased; that Mrs. M. A. Rosenbloom sues for herself and as next friend for her children and for the use and benefit of such parents ; that the Pecos & Northern Texas Railway Company is a corporation, owning and operating a line of railroad extending from Amarillo southwesterly to Plainview and Texico, own extensive switchyards, etc., a Amarillo, having at the point of occurrence in question seven parallel tracks, extending north and south and located east of its main line; that the defendant used such tracks and yards as a place for starting cars, operating its trains, etc.; that a short time prior to November 27, 1909, M. A. Rosenbloom was in the service of defendant in the capacity of ticket clerk (properly seal clerk), his duties being such as to require him to be in and about such yards for the purpose of taking the numbers of all ears coming into and leaving the same and for sealing cars and preserving a record thereof; that tracks 4 and 5 of the seven side tracks which are numbered from 1 to 7 consecutively, going from west to east, are only about 6 feet apart, so that trains in motion running abreast thereon have a little open space between such tracks, barely enough for a man to stand in and not be knocked down; that on the evening of the 27th of November, 1909, there was a long freight train moving out north on track No. 4, and M. A. Rosenbloom, in the performance of his duties, was between tracks 4 and 5, by the side of said train, getting a record of the cars therein; that while he was there so doing with his face to the north, and walking along in the direction such train was moving, and while he was exercising due care and caution, a switch crew, the employés of defendant, pushed a ballast car attached to an engine along on track 5 in the same direction Rosenbloom and such freight train were moving; that such ballast car, which was very wide, was so pushed up behind M. A. Rosenbloom rapidly and with great force and violence, and without ringing the bell or blowing the whistle or giving other warning; that such ballast car while being so moved struck M. A. Rosenbloom, knocked him down, and ran over him, killing him; that at the time the space between such train on track 4 and ballast car and engine on track 5 was so narrow that a man situated between them, if he happened to move to one side or the other, or to stumble and throw his body to one side or the other, would be struck by the moving cars; that, as such ballast car and switch engine so approached Rosenbloom, the em-ployés thereof saw him, and realized that he was in a perilous position, and liable to become confused in attempting to escape, and get caught by one of such trains, and knew that he was liable to sidestep or stumble so as to be struck by the moving cars, and that, if they approached him from behind without his being apprised thereof, he would be placed in a perilous position, and' was likely to be run over and killed, or could have so known by the use of ordinary care; that, so knowing, such switch crew negligently, and without regard for the safety of M. A. Rosen-bloom, ran such engine and ballast car rapidly and approached him from behind without giving any warning, so that when such cars were within IS or 20 feet of M. A. Rosen-bloom, either because he did not know of the approach of such engine and car, or because he became confused at the unexpected approach thereof, he attempted to cross switch track No. 5 in front of the car and was run over and killed; that the killing of M. A. Rosenbloom was the result of the negligence of defendant in the manner in which such engine and ballast car were operated and the failure of the crew to give him warning; that the crew in charge' of such switch engine and ballast car, seeing M. A. Rosenbloom for a long distance before reaching him, and when about 20 or 25 feet from him, seeing that he was going to cross track No. 5, and realizing that he was in a perilous position, and liable to be run over and killed, after discovering and knowing such dangers and perilous position, failed and refused to exercise all the means at their command to awoid running over and killing him, failing to warn him, to slacken their speed, or in any manner trying to avoid killing him, and that plaintiffs were damaged thereby.
On August 17, 1910, appellant filed its amended answer, being the pleading on which it went to trial and. answered appellees’ pleading substantially as follows;
(1) By plea to the jurisdiction of the court, asserting that because Rosenbloom was an employé, engaged in interstate commerce, the federal courts alone had jurisdiction.
(2) By general demurrer.
(3) By special exception, pointing out (1) that plaintiffs’ petition failed to disclose whether Rosenbloom was engaged in intrastate or interstate commerce; (2) that it failed to show that plaintiff was entitled to sue in the capacity in which she sued; and (3) that it failed to show that death was the natural and proximate result of the alleged negligence.
(4) By general denial.
(5) By special plea, setting up (1) the federal employer’s liability act, alleging that Rosenbloom was an employé engaged in interstate commerce so that the federal courts had jurisdiction, and plaintiff had no right to sue in the capacity in which she sues; (2) contributory negligence on the part of M. A. Rosenbloom; and (3) assumed risk and negligent manner in which Rosenbloom conducted himself.
The record shows that certain general demurrers and special exceptions urged by ap-pellees were by the lower court sustained and the rulings excepted to by appellant, and that a general demurrer and certain special exceptions urged by appellant were overrul- *178 eel, and the rulings excepted to by appellant, but as the appellant has failed to assign error in this court on any of said rulings, and appellees have briefed their cause as if no such rulings had been made by the court below, on appellant’s pleadings, we will dispose of the issues only as raised in and presented by the briefs of the parties, respectively, on the record.
As appellant’s second and third assignments, in a general way, bear on the same question, they will be considered together. Under appellant’s second and third assignments, it is contended that the court below committed reversible error in failing to give appellant’s special charges Nos. 1 and 13, respectively, as requested, which are as follows: Second assignment: ■ “The trial court erred in refusing to give in charge to the jury special charge No. 1, requested by defendant, which is as follows: The court charges the jury that plaintiffs are not entitled to recover in the capacity in which they sue herein, and you are therefore instructed to return a verdict for the defendant.’ ” Third assignment: “The court erred in refusing to give in charge to the jury special charge No. 13, requested by defendant, which is as follows: ‘If M. A. Rosenbloom at the time of his death was engaged in examining seals and making record of seals on cars being transported interstate over the line of defendant and other lines of connecting carriers, and if such work was a necessary part and customary work, reasonably carried on by defendant as a part of its business, transporting freight interstate over its line, or if he had then just completed such inspection of said train, and had not yet completed his record and placed it in the place where usually kept, then you will return a verdict for the defendant on its special plea that plaintiff has no right to maintain this suit in the capacity in which she sues.’ ”
As a basis for the disposition we make of these two assignments, and in connection with the disposition we shall make of other assignments, we, find that the following facts are established and proven by the record, and that the record contains no other facts tending to show that M. A. Rosenbloom was at any time engaged in interstate commerce, to wit:
(1) Appellant is a railway corporation, owning and operating a line of railroad, extending from Amarillo southwesterly to the New Mexico-Texas state line at Texico, where it connects with the line of the Eastern Railway Company of New Mexico and its line connects at Amarillo with that of the Southern Kansas Railway Company of Texas.
(2) On and prior to the 27th day of November, 1909, defendant company was engaged in transporting freight and passengers for hire, being a,common carrier, duly organized and chartered, under the laws of the state of Texas, and engaged in a railway transportation business.
(3) In connection with its connecting lines, known as the “Santa Fé System” lines and other lines, it was and is engaged in transporting goods and passengers intrastate and interstate, about 85 per cent, of its traffic for the month of November, 1909, having been interstate and about 15 per cent, thereof intrastate. ,
(4) In connection with its business as such common carrier, it has and owns and owned and was operating extensive switchyards, storage tracks, shops, etc., on and prior to November 27, 1909, at Amarillo, in Potter county, Tex. There were three of its yards, known as the “east,” the “middle,” and the “west” yards, respectively.
(5) M. A. Rosenbloom became an employe of defendant about the 1st day of November, 1909, at Amarillo, Tex., in the capacity of seal clerk, and continued to be so engaged until the time of his death, which was about 6 o’clock p. m. November 27, 1909.
(6) As such clerk, it was the duty of M. A. Rosenbloom to go in, on, and about said yards, and there seal all incoming and outgoing trains and take a list of the ears in each such train by car numbers and initials, note the condition of each car, especially as to the door being sealed, and seal all unsealed doors, look about icing refrigerator cars, etc., and report cars for icing, etc., and note broken car doors and report losses of freight, etc. Of such matters it was his duty to make a record, which was kept in a book in the yardmaster’s office, from which to answer questions and correspondence in the future, making inquiries as to the condition of ears and freight passing through the Amarillo yards.
(7) The yards aforesaid were in constant use day and night during the time Rosen-bloom was so engaged with switch engines, with their cars, and incoming and outgoing trains, coming and going constantly.
(8) In said middle yard where Rosenbloom was killed, there were seven switches or yard tracks, all lying east of appellant’s main line track, extending practically north and south, parallel, and numbered from 1 to 7, inclusive, and consecutively from west to east.
(9) At the time of the death of Rosenbloom there was a long freight train about 34 cars, leaving from track No. 4 in these middle yards to go out at the north end of the line, and thence on to Wynoka, Okl., interstate over the line of the Southern Kansas Railway Company. Such train was made up of cars which had come in from New Mexico *179 over appellant’s line, and was going out over tlie Southern Kansas to points in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and other states, excepting one car, which was well drilling tools, consigned to Panhandle, a point in Carson county, Tex., which would be reached without leaving the state, and which car of tools had originated at Amarillo, Tex., to be used in work on the company’s water station at Panhandle.
(10) While, such train was moving out slowly from said track, Kosenbloom was going down between tracks 4 and 5 by the side of said out-going train from south to north, for what purpose is not shown by the testimony, nor is it shown what he had immediately preceding his being killed been doing.
(11) As such out-going train and Kosen-bloom were so moving, one of the day switch cars having coupled an engine on to the south end of a ballast car, somewhere to the south of where Kosenbloom was, came north (the same direction as the out-going train and Rosenbloom were moving) on track 5, intending to go a few car lengths beyond where they struck Rosenbloom, and there couple onto some coal cars and pull them back south on track 5. The crew handling this switch engine and ballast car were not engaged in interstate commerce at the time Kosenbloom was killed.
(12) As this switch engine and ballast car were about to pass Rosenbloom from some cause and by some means, which are in dispute, he got in front of the ballast car, was knocked down, run over, and killed.
(13) Rosenbloom was the husband of Mrs. M. A. Rosenbloom, plaintiff, the father of Milton and Matilda, and the son of Isaac and Minnie Rosenbloom, was 26 years old at the time of his death, and earning $60 per month, and during the time of his employment he had resided with his family at Amarillo, Tex.
We are inclined to the opinion that appellant is not in a position, under the condition of its pleadings, to urge the questions sought to be raised under these assignments, for the reason that the portion of its pleading challenging the right of appellees to prosecute this suit in the capacity they do is not under oath, as required by article 1265, Sayles’ Civil Statutes; but, as there may be some question about the correctness of this view, we will dispose of them as if appellant was in a position legally to urge them.
Under the authorities cited by appellant, if the evidence had affirmatively shown that Rosenbloom, at the time of receiving the injuries which resulted in his death, was actually engaged in the performance of his duties, in connection with the freight train which was just leaving and which was made up of cars containing interstate as well as intrastate freight, without showing which character of freight he was then giving his attention to, and if the testimony had tended to show that those engaged in the operation of the switch engine were also engaged in interstate commerce, we would incline to the opinion that a question was raised as to whether or not Rosenbloom was engaged in interstate commerce as an employs at the time he was killed, or if the evidence, as a whole, had tended to show that at the time Rosenbloom was killed he was as an employs of appellant, performing his duties in connection with one of the cars laden with interstate freight, and the evidence as a whole had also tended to show that those operating the engine and ballast car were engaged in interstate commerce, we would incline to the opinion that a question had been raised as to whether or not Rosenbloom was engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the federal law, when considered in connection with the duties pertaining to his employment. The evidence, however, taken as a whole, as we view it, fails to raise such an issue as it would appear from the language used by District Judge Whitson in the case of Zykos v. Oregon R. & Nav. Co. (C. C.) 179 Fed. 893, that it would be necessary for those operating the engine and ballast car, as well as Rosenbloom, to have been engaged in interstate commerce before the questions sought to be presented by appellant really existed.
In discussing the facts and circumstances necessary to entitle an employ® to the benefit of the federal employer’s liability act, Judge Whitson, in the case above cited, uses the following language: “It is not necessary, in view of the facts disclosed by the complaint, to go further than to hold that interstate and intrastate service are separable by upholding liability when the injury results from the negligence of fellow servants engaged in interstate commerce, and denying it when resulting from the negligence of an intrastate employ® to one engaged in interstate commerce.” Again, in the same opinion, the same judge uses the following language: “That it was the purpose to make an interstate carrier liable to an employ® engaged in interstate commerce for the negligence of a fellow servant also engaged in such commerce is beyond controversy.” From the above language it would appear that the proper construction of the federal statute would be that before a federal question was *180 raised the evidence must tend to show, not only that the injured party was engaged in interstate commerce, but that the servant inflicting the injury, which in law is the principal, was also so engaged. We think the reasoning in the majority opinion in the case of Howard v. Illinois Central Railway Company, 207 U. S. 463, 28 Sup. Ct. 40, 52 L. Ed. 151, sustains the proposition just announced.
A proper disposition of appellant’s first assignment depends upon the construction that should be given section 2 of an act of the Legislature of the state of Texas passed in 1909, found at page 280 of the Session Acts, which reads as follows: “That in all actions wherever brought against any such common carrier or railroad under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this act to recover damages for personal injuries to an employ®, or where such injuries have resulted in death, the fact that the employ® may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar recovery, but the damage shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employé.”
Referring to the effect this act had on the assumed risk doctrine in this state, Justice Brown, speaking for the Supreme Court, in the case of H. & T. C. Railway Co. v. Alexander, 102 Tex. 497, 119 S. W. 1135, used this language: “The statute did. not abolish the rule of the law that one who enters the service of a' railroad company assumes all risks which are ordinarily incident to his employment, also the risks which are known to him, or that he should discover in the proper discharge of his duties. The effect of that act is to deny to the railroad company the defense of assumed risk in case ‘the defect or danger’ which causes the injury was such that a person of ordinary prudence under like circumstances ‘would have continued in the service.’ The change is favorable to the employé, which we cannot explain better than to contrast its application with the previous rule as heretofore applied.” The court then proceeds to refer to the fact that in the case of Railway Company v. Drew, 59 Tex. 10, 46 Am. Rep. 261, that court had held that Drew was not entitled to recover because of the law as it then existed, and then announced the proposition that under the law as it existed when the Alexander Case was decided Drew would have been entitled to recover by showing that the condition of the locomotive and the surrounding circumstances were such that a prudent man, situated as he was, would have used the locomotive as he did; the Drew Case having been one in which the engineer had used an engine without a pilot, knowing that the engine had no pilot, and the injuries having resulted to him because of the want of a pilot. On April 13, 1909, the Legislature passed a law which we think enlarges the rights of employés, and imposes more burdens on the employer than had prior thereto existed under the contributory negligence doctrine, above announced, section 2 of which is as follows: “That in all actions hereafter brought against any such common carrier by (or) railroad under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this act to recover damages for personal injuries .to an employé, or where such injuries have resulted in his death, the fact that the employé may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employé; provided that no such employé who may be injured or killed shall be held to have been guilty of contributory negligence in any case where the violations by such common carrier of any statute for the safety of employés contributed to the injury or death of such *182 employs.” An inspection of the entire act, from winch, section 2 is copied above, shows that no act which had not been formerly held to be contributory' negligence C9uld under this act be held to be such.
From the foregoing it would appear that at the time the act under consideration was passed the doctrine of assumed risk formerly existing had been as a result of the act of 1905, as construed in the case of H. & T. C. Ry. v. Alexander, so modified as to permit a recovery by the employs under circumstances which would have barred a recovery prior thereto, and apparently so modifying the former doctrine of assumed risk that it practically became one of contributory negligence as to matters mentioned in the act. No court, so far as we are aware, has held that the act of 1905 or of April 13, 1909, in any way affected the doctrine of discovered peril above announced, and we fail to see how rights under this doctrine could be affected by either the act of 1905 or of 1909, since the very doctrine itself presupposes that the injured party had been guilty of a wrong, but for which the injury would not have occurred, and the wrong may have been negligence on his part. The right of recovery in discovered peril cases appears to be based on the idea that the injury has resulted in part from an independent cause, arising after the wrong on the part of the person injured, though the injury would not have occurred but for said wrong. Judge Denman, speaking for the Supreme Court of this state, in the case of Texas & Pacific Railway Company v. Breadow, 90 Tex. 26, 36 S. W. 410, in discussing the right of recovery under this doctrine, uses this language: “If defendant, through parties in charge of the engine, knew of Breadow’s peril in time to have avoided same, such knowledge imposed upon it the new duty of using every means then within its power consistent with the safety of the engine to avoid running him down; and a failure so to do would render it liable, notwithstanding he may have been guilty of contributory negligence in being exposed to the peril. This new duty and liability for its breach is imposed upon principles of humanity and public policy to prevent what would otherwise be, as far as civil liability is concerned, the licensed destruction of persons negligently exposing themselves to peril.”
It being clear that neither the act of 1905 nor that of 1909 was intended to enlarge the defenses of employers or to destroy any right theretofore existing in the employs which had existed prior thereto, and to give the act of 1909 the construction contended for by appellant, would work a destruction of a right enjoyed by employés prior thereto, we conclude that the act of 1909 in no way limits the right theretofore existing in discovered peril cases as to the employs, and for these reasons we overrule appellant’s first assignment of error.
Under appellant’s fourth assignment complaint is made that the court erred in overruling the twenty-ninth ground in its motion for a new trial, which is as follows: “The verdict and judgment of the jury are contrary to and unsupported by the law and the facts in this cause, for this: (2) The evidence entirely fails to show any actionable negligence upon the part of the defendant, its agents, servants, and employés in the manner or form as stated in plaintiff’s original petition, (b) The evidence shows conclusively that the deceased, M. A. Rosenbloom, was negligent, and that his negligence, without any concurrent negligence upon the part of the defendants or its agents or employés, was the sole producing cause of the death of M. A. Rosenbloom. (c) There is absolutely no testimony whatever to show that M. A. *184 Rosenbloom became and was in a perilous position from wbicb be could not and would not extricate bimself, and that the engineer or other employés of the defendant in charge of the switch engine and ballast car in question saw or discovered M. A. Rosenbloom in such perilous position, failed to exercise due care to avoid injuring him. (d) The evidence shows clearly that M. A. Rosenbloom walked upon the track immediately in front of the ballast car, and that defendant’s em-ployés, members of the switch engine, especially the engineer, 'could not possibly after discovering M. A. Rosenbloom on the track, or going on the track in front of the car, have avoided striking him with the ballast car in question.”
As the evidence shows, without contradiction, that the operatives of the switch engine and car that ran over and killed Rosenbloom discovered that he was in a perilous position while he was yet somewhere between 10 and 30 feet from any portion of the engine or car attached thereto, and the evidence in the record is sufficient to sustain the conclusions that the engine and ear could have been stopped with the means at hand by the proper use thereof within less even than seven feet, and that the engine and car were at the time in good condition, but that they ran about 60 to 70 feet after Rosenbloom’s perilous position was actually discovered, and there is also evidence in the record sufficient to sustain the conclusion that, if the engine and car had been stopped in less than 30 feet after Rosenbloom’s perilous position had been actually discovered by appellant’s employés in charge of said engine and car, Rosenbloom would not have been injured or killed, no error was committed in overruling subdivision “a” of the twenty-ninth ground of appellant’s motion for a new trial. While the evidence does tend to show that Rosenbloom had been guilty of negligence in going on the track at the time and under the circumstances, yet there is evidence in the record, if believed by the jury, sufficient to support the conclusion that appellant’s em-ployés in charge of the switch engine and car were guilty of negligence in having failed to avoid running over and killing Rosenbloom after they actually discovered his peril, and for these reasons the court did not err in overruling subdivision “b” of the twenty-ninth ground of appellant’s motion for a new trial.
■What we have said in disposing of subdivisions “a” • and “b” of the twenty-ninth ground of appellant’s motion for a new trial necessarily results in our holding that the court did not err in overruling subdivision “d” thereof, and, as' this disposes of each ground of objection urged under appellant’s fourth assignment, adversely to it, we overrule said assignment.
Believing that the material issues arising on the trial of the cause were submitted to-the jury by the court in its charge in such form and substance as to correctly inform the jury as to the law of the case, and the jury having found against appellant on the facts, and there appearing no reversible error in the record, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
Reference
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- PECOS & N. T. RY. CO. v. ROSENBLOOM Et Al.
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