St. Louis, S. F. & T. Ry. Co. v. Whatley
St. Louis, S. F. & T. Ry. Co. v. Whatley
Opinion of the Court
This appeal is from a judgment in favor of the appellee for the sum of $1,000 as damages for injury to his eye caused by the escape of steam from one of the appellant’s locomotives. The injury occurred under.the following circumstances: The ap-pellee and his son were engaged in delivering lumber for shipment at Celeste, a station in Hunt county on the appellant’s line of railroad. Each of them was upon this occasion driving a'team for the purpose of unloading at the depot platform. The appellee drove his team in between the platform and the main line of the railway, a space of approximately 13½ feet. It was near nightfall, and was beginning to grow dark. According to the appellee’s testimony, just as he had proceeded a part of the way into this narrow space he discovered the headlight of a passenger train approaching from the north. He states that at that time he could not go back or forward. When the train was within about 50 or 75 feet of him the engine began, to emit a large volume of steam and he got down from his wagon for the purpose of holding the animal nearest to the train, fearing that it would become frightened by the steam; that put him within about 3 feet of the railway track. The train passed, still emitting steam, which burned the side of his face and injured one of his eyes, causing, as he claims, great pain and the permanent impairment of the vision of that eye. Witness could not tell from what portion of the boiler the steam came, but stated that it was in such a volume and so dense and hot that it forced him to abandon his team in order to get out of danger. He also says the engineer in charge of the locomotive was looking at him at the time. This, however, was denied by the engineer, who testified that he saw no one at that place as his train passed through Celeste on that occasion. He also denied that he permitted his engine to emit any steam at that time or place.
“It was the duty of the plaintiff upon the occasion in question to exercise ordinary care for his own safety, and a failure upon his part to do so would be contributory negligence. Contributory negligence as used in this charge means some' negligent act upon the part of the plaintiff which, combining or concurring with the negligence, if any, of the defendant, proximately caused or contributed to the injury complained of.
“Now, bearing in mind the instruction in the preceding paragraph as to contributory negligence', if you believe from the evidence that the plaintiff could have caused his wagon, to have been driven ,to some other portion of the platform further from the track, and that causing or permitting the same to be driven in the position it was in waS negligence, and that such negligence on his part caused or contributed to the injuries, if any, sustained by the plaintiff, you will find for the defendant.”
*969 Appellant complains of tlie refusal of the court to give two special charges requested by it upon that issue. Counsel for the appel-lee insists that the evidence did not raise an issue of contributory negligence; and we think there is much force in the argument. If the testimony of the appellee be true, the jury was fully warranted in finding that the appellant’s employés in charge of the engine on that occasion were guilty of negligence in causing the emission of an excessive volume of steam. The only danger, according to the record in this case, to which the appellee exposed himself by driving between the platform and the railway track was that resulting from the unnecessary escape of steam from the passing locomotive. Both he and his team were beyond danger of collision, and he testified without contradiction that his team was gentle and would not have been frightened by the ordinary passage of a train.
The principal question, then, before the jury was, not whether the act of letting off steam at that time or place was negligence, but whether any such deed was committed. It was not disputed that if the engineer was guilty of letting off steam'in the manner testified to by the appellee such conduct was wholly uncalled for by any operative requirement. Appellant’s master mechanic, who testified upon the trial, stated that it was contrary to order for steam to be let off at such times and places. Appellee could hardly be charged with contributory negligence unless it could be said that a reasonably prudent man would have anticipated such negligent conduct on the part of the engineer. In any event, we think the charge of the court on contributory negligence was sufficient to cover all defenses upon that issue raised by the evidence.
“If you do not believe from the evidence that the employés of the defendant, St. Loins & San Francisco Railway Company of Texas, caused steam or hot water to escape from its engine upon the occasion in question as alleged by the plaintiff, and that the same was negligence, and that such negligence', if any, was the proximate cause of the injuries, if any, to the plaintiff, you will find for the defendant.”
If the plaintiff was injured in the manner alleged, and that was the issue, there can be no room for doubt as to what was the proximate cause of his injury.
.“While it is true that defendant exhausted its peremptory challenges, no statement was made that defendant desired to challenge other-jurors, or that it was forced'to take any juror that was objectionable to it. Nothing of this kind was called to the attention of the court. The challenge to the juror Branche was passed on when made during voir dire examination of jurors by counsel.”
The juror was not disqualified, unless it can be said that his answers conclusively show that he- was biased in favor of the plaintiff in -the suit. While his statements regarding his business are such as to show probable bias in favor of plaintiffs generally in damage suits against railroads, we are not prepared to say that his further statements that he was unbiased in this controversy should have been disregarded by the court. Ellis v. Brooks, 101 Tex. 591, 102 S. W. 94, 103 S. W. 1196. The record does not show that the juror was interested in any suit against the appellant.
The assignment objecting to the charge of the court on the measure of damages, upon the ground that it permitted a recovery for conditions not pleaded, is not sustained by the record. The charge did not exceed the limits of the facts alleged.
The judgment will be affirmed.
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Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.