Davis v. Wadford
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff in error, defendant in the court below hereinafter called the defendant, brings this writ of error to review the judgment of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of South Carolina, rendered on the 5th day of July, 1921, in favor of the defendant in error, hereinafter called thei plaintiff. The action is at law, brought to recover damages for thel wrongful death of the plaintiff’s intestate, Crestón Wadford, by the' alleged negligent act of the defendant. The facts are briefly these:
Crestón Wadford, a small boy, 11 years old, on the evening of the 21st of December, 1918, while crossing the tracks of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway, in the town of St. Stephens, S. C., was struck by a train of the defendant, and instantly killed. The plaintiff averred that her intestate sustained his death while lawfully proceeding over
Issue was joined between the parties, the defendant denying the several allegations of negligence made by the plaintiff, and a jury was impaneled and returned a verdict for the plaintiff, on which judgment was entered, from which this writ of error is sued out.
The assignments of erorr present two questions: First, that the court erred in refusing to .instruct a verdict for the defendant made at the conclusion of the testimony; and, second, that the verdict rendered by the jury was not supported by, and was directly contrary to, the weight of the testimony adduced, and that no judgment should be rendered thereon. The evidence on the several questions of fact was in direct conflict. The trial court instructed the jury that no recovery could be Had against the defendant by reason of the failure to sound whistle's, ring the bell, or give other signal of the train’s approach, because, .under the laws of South Carolina, such signals were required only at a lawful traveled way or road crossing, and the evidence in the case showed that the deceased was not killed at such a place.
The court, however, submitted to the jury the determination.of the defendant’s negligence in the matter of the speed at which the train was moving under the town ordinances on the subject, limiting the same to 20 miles an hour, and whether such fact was the proximate cause of the accident. The question of whether or not the plaintiff’s intestate was guilty of contributory negligence, affecting the result, under the facts and circumstances of the case, taking into account his age, information, knowledge, and opportunity of knowledge, was likewise submitted to the jury. Whether the court erred in taking the case from the jury, except in the particulars mentioned, need not be especially passed upon, since there is no exception on the part of the plaintiff with respect thereto, and the court’s action was as favorable to the defendant as it could reasonably have asked, and it likewise took no exception.
This leaves for consideration only whether there was error in not taking the case from the jury entirely, and in entering judgment on the verdict, and. upon those two questions we have no difficulty in arriving at a conclusion. The case manifestly should have been left to the
The judgment of the lower court will be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DAVIS, Federal Agent v. WADFORD
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published