Chicago, R. I. & G. Ry. Co. v. Forrester
Chicago, R. I. & G. Ry. Co. v. Forrester
Opinion of the Court
This appeal is from a judgment awarding damages to the appellee, Forrester, for personal injuries which he claims to have sustained. It is alleged that on November 23, 1908, and prior thereto, Forrester was a locomotive engineer employed in the service of the appellant railway company; that on the evening of the date last mentioned he started out on his run from Ft. Worth, Tex., to Waurika, Old., a distance of about 110 miles, in charge of engine No. 1501; that during this run the boiler of the engine leaked steam, which collected in the cab, causing him to contract a cold, which resulted in the loss of his hearing. Forrester testified that he had never used this engine before that occasion; that, when he left Ft Worth, it was in apparently good condition, but when he reached Paradise, a station about 36 miles north of Ft. Worth, he discovered that the boiler was leaking steam, and that steam was collecting in the cab, where he was riding; that as he proceeded farther north the leakage became worse, until finally he could with difficulty see the fireman; that, as the atmosphere grew cooler towards nightfall, the steam became condensed on the walls and top of the cab, and his clothing thereby became saturated with moisture to such an extent that he was chilled and caused to take a severe cold. He further testified that this condition of the engine continued and grew worse until he reached the end of his run some time near- midnight; that he then retired for the night. When he arose the next morning he had every evidence of a severe cold, and his hearing was practically gone. Other testimony offered by him upon the trial supported his contention that his hearing was defective at that time, and that by reason of that condition he was unable to pursue his former line of business, that of operating a railway locomotive. It is claimed that the appellant was negligent in furnishing him a locomotive with a defective boiler, one that leaked steam to an unusual and dangerous extent. The defense *164 mainly relied upon, was that the engine was in good repair when it started out on this particular trip, and that whatever defects subsequently developed were, those usually' incident to the service in which it was employed, and, further, that Eorrester’s defective hearing was a condition of long standing resulting from a chronic disease from which he had been suffering for a number of years previous to that time. The testh mony upon those two issues was conflicting. Upon a trial before a jury a verdict was rendered in favor of Forrester for the sum. of $18,000 actual damages and $7,000 exemplary, damages. The court, however, required a remittitur of all the exemplary damages and of $3,000 of the actual damages, and a judgment was finally entered for the sum of $15,000' against the appellant. From that judgment this appeal is prosecuted.
' Numerous errors are assigned, all of which have been carefully considered; but we shall confine the discussion to those which .we think injuriously affected the appellant upon the trial.
' Objection is made to the ninth and tenth paragraphs of the court’s charge, which are as follows:
“(9) If you do not find that the defendant or its employés whose duty it was to remedy the same knew of said defect in the boiler, if any, before said plaintiff was placed in charge of said engine, and if you find that plaintiff did not so inform said defendant or its employés authorized to have the same remedied upon the discovery by him, plaintiff, of said defect, if any, in the boiler of said engine while said plaintiff was on the road upon his trip, or if you find that a person of ordinary care and prudence would not have continued the operation of said engine upon the discovery by him of the condition in which you believe said boiler was while on said trip, then you will find that plaintiff assumed the risk connected with the operation of said engine with said defective boiler, if any, and your verdict will be for the defendant.
“(10) But if you find and believe that the boiler of the engine in question was defective, and further find that upon the discovery of said defective condition, if any, by plaintiff, that he, plaintiff, upon the first opportunity so to do, informed the defendant or the employés thereof whose duty it was to • have such defects repaired, in the event you find said defendant or its employés did not know of such defects, if any, or if you find that said defendant or its employés whose duty it was to remedy said defects, if any, knew before said engine left the roundhouse at Ft. Worth of the existence of said defects, if any, or if you find that a person of ordinary care and prudence would have continued in the operation of said engine in the condition in which you believe the boiler thereof was 'with respect to allowing steam to escape at the time plaintiff took charge thereof, or while he was in charge thereof on said trip, then you will find that plaintiff did not assume any risk arising directly from the condition of said boiler as aforesaid, which you may find existed.” These instructions were intended to guide the jury in passing upon the question of assumed risk, a defense pleaded, and an issue made important by the state of the evidence.
By the next.'paragraph, the tenth, is submitted to the jury a group of facts which, if found to be true, required a determination in favor of the plaintiff upon the issue of assumed risk. The principal objection to this portion of the charge seems to be that the first part submits as a controverted issue a fact of whicji there was no evidence — as to whether appellee reported the condition of the boiler while en route. Forrester’s own testimor ny established the following facts: When he left Ft. Worth with engine No. 1501, it was in apparently good condition, and did not begin to leak steam till he arrived “along about Paradise,” a station 36 miles distant from Ft. Worth, and that there were a number of other stations along the route between Paradise and Waurika, the end of his divi-. sion. It was also shown that at Paradise and other stations along the line there were telegraph offices maintained by the appellant, by means of which Forrester could have informed the proper officials at Ft. Worth of the condition of his engine, and could have secured relief from its further use. There is no evidence that he made any attempt to communicate with those officials by that means; on the contrary, the record makes it reasonably certain that he did not, and that he gave out no information as to that condition till he reached Waurika. He says that he was carrying what is termed “manifest freight,” which is described as perishable matter, and was' required to be gotten through on schedule time. Article 4560k of the Revised Civil Statutes (Sayles’ Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1906, p. 485) is as follows: “That in any suit against a person, corporation or receiver operating a railroad or street railway for damages for the death or personal injury of an employe or servant, caused by the wrong or negligence of such person, corporation or receiver, that the plea of assumed risk of the deceased or injured employé where the ground of the plea is knowledge or means of knowledge of the defect and danger which caused the injury or death shall not be available in the follow *165 ing cases: First, Where such employe had an opportunity before "being injured or killed to inform the employer or .a superior entrusted by the employer with the authority to remedy or cause to be remedied the defect, and does notify or cause to be notified the employer or superior thereof within a reasonable time, provided it shall not be necessary to give such information where the employer or such superior thereof already knows of the defect. Second. Where a person of ordinary care would have continued in the service with the knowledge of the defect and danger, and in such case it shall not be necessary that the servant or employs give notice of the defect as provided in subdivision 1 hereof.” The obvious purpose of this statute was to relieve the character of employes there referred to from the effects of the common-law rule regarding the assumption of risks in those instances where the defects and dangers are known to the servant in advance of the injury. Two distinct situations or conditions are provided for. One (the second named in the statute) is where a person of ordinary care would have continued in the particular service with a knowledge of the existence of the defect and danger with which he is confronted. In shch an instance, the servant is not required to give notice to the employer in order that he may escape the charge of having assumed the risk. The other is where the defect and danger are such that no person of ordinary prudence would continue in the particular service with a knowledge of their existence. Here the servant is relieved if before being killed or injured he has an opportunity to notify the employer or its proper agents of the existence of the defect and does give such notice. But in such situations notice is not essential where the employer knows beforehand of the defective condition.
The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded.
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