Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/288/333/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 01:04:16+00:00

Document:
A court can order a directed verdict if the evidence is so insubstantial on one side that the other party would be entitled to a new trial if an adverse verdict were reached.
A brakeman employed by Pennsylvania Railroad was killed when he was routing the company's train cars in a railroad yard. In the ensuing wrongful death claim by his estate, the complaint stated that he had been knocked off his car and run over in a collision caused by the negligent operation of other railroad cars. Three eyewitnesses stated that no collision had happened. By contrast, a witness for the estate named Bainbridge testified that he had heard a loud crash before the accident. Bainbridge pointed out that this was not an unusual event and that he was not paying much attention as he was standing about 900 feet from the victim's body. Pennsylvania Railroad received a directed verdict in its favor.
A jury is entitled to review the facts in a dispute when there is a genuine conflict of testimony. In this situation, however, the testimony by the plaintiff's witness would equally support inferences that there was a collision and that there was not a collision. Any conclusion that a collision happened would be based on mere speculation because the testimony by the plaintiff's witness was so weak.
The majority of jurisdictions would disagree with this reasoning, finding that the court should direct a verdict only if the evidence presented by the party against whom the verdict would be directed is insufficient. This decision reveals a process in which the evidence presented by both parties was considered, which is more commonly the approach that is taken in determining whether a new trial is appropriate.
1. A plaintiff in an action for wrongful death cannot recover by proof of facts from which it may be inferred that the injury resulted from an event attributable to the defendant's negligence if the same facts give equal support to an inference that it resulted from another and different event not so attributable. P. 288 U. S. 339.
inference should be drawn cannot resolve the doubt in his favor. P. 288 U. S. 340.
3. Where the plaintiff's right of recovery depends upon the existence of a particular fact being inferred from proven facts, such inference is not permissible in the face of the positive and otherwise uncontradicted testimony of unimpeached witnesses, consistent with the facts actually proved, showing affirmatively that the fact sought to be inferred did not exist. P. 288 U. S. 340.
4. A brakeman who was riding a cut of cars moving on a distributing track of a large freight yard, in a switching operation, fell and was killed, and the case against the company depended on whether the accident resulted from a collision by a second cut from behind. Three employees who were on the second cut testified positively that there was no collision or contact between it and the first one, and in this they were corroborated by every other employee who was in a position to see. One witness alone, who was standing fifty feet from the track and nine hundred feet from the spot where the body was found, testified that he heard a crash -- a thing not unusual in the yard, only "extra loud" -- which was not sufficient to attract his attention, and did not cause him to turn at once, but that, shortly thereafter, he did turn and saw the two strings of cars moving together, with the deceased, who had been visible before, no longer in sight. Held that the witness' further statement that the crash was caused by a collision of the two strings in question was not testimony to a fact, but merely an inference or conclusion of his own, and that the manifest impossibility of telling by sight, from the place where he was, whether the cars were moving in contact, made his testimony on that point incredible. P. 288 U. S. 342.
5. In a personal injury case, verdict should be directed for the defendant if the evidence for the plaintiff is so insufficient that a verdict in his favor would be improper and must be set aside on motion for a new trial. P. 288 U. S. 343.
6. The scintilla rule has been definitely and repeatedly rejected so far as the federal courts are concerned; the verdict cannot rest on mere speculation and conjecture. P. 288 U. S. 343.
company in an action for wrongful death, under the Employers' Liability Act.
This is an action brought by respondent against petitioner to recover for the death of a brakeman alleged to have been caused by petitioner's negligence. The complaint alleges that the deceased, at the time of the accident resulting in his death, was assisting in the yard work of breaking up and making up trains and in the classifying and assorting of cars operating in interstate commerce; that, in pursuance of such work, while riding a cut of cars, other cars ridden by fellow employees were negligently caused to be brought into violent contact with those upon which deceased was riding, with the result that he was thrown therefrom to the railroad track and run over by a car or cars, inflicting injuries from which he died.
At the conclusion of the evidence, the trial court directed the jury to find a verdict in favor of petitioner. Judgment upon a verdict so found was reversed by the Court of Appeals, Judge Swan dissenting. 59 F.2d 986.
hand brakes, to their respective destinations in the various branch tracks. Deceased had charge of a string of two gondola cars, which he was piloting to track 14. Immediately ahead of him was a string of seven cars, and behind him a string of nine cars, both also destined for track 14. Soon after the cars ridden by deceased had passed to track 14, his body was found on that track some distance beyond the switch. He had evidently fallen onto the track and been run over by a car or cars.
with the deceased's. After the nine cars had passed at a somewhat greater speed than the deceased's, Bainbridge paid no more attention to either string for a while, but looked again when the deceased, who was still standing in his place, had passed the switch and onto the assorting track where he was bound. At that time, his speed had been checked to about three miles, but the speed of the following nine cars had increased. They were just passing the switch, about four or five cars behind the deceased. Bainbridge looked away again, and soon heard what he described as a 'loud crash,' not, however, an unusual event in a switching yard. Apparently this did not cause him at once to turn, but he did so shortly thereafter, and saw the two strings together, still moving, and the deceased no longer in sight. Later still, his attention was attracted by shouts, and he went to the spot and saw the deceased between the rails. Until he left to go to the accident, he had stood fifty feet to the north of the track where the accident happened, and about nine hundred feet from where the body was found."
"where direct testimony to an essential fact is contradicted by direct testimony of other witnesses, though even there it is conceded a directed verdict might be proper in some circumstances. Here, when all the testimony was in, the circumstantial evidence in support of negligence was thought by the trial judge to be so insubstantial and insufficient that it did not justify submission to the jury."
but that, shortly thereafter, he did turn, and saw the two strings of cars moving together with the deceased no longer in sight; that there was nothing unusual about the crash of cars -- it happened every day; that there was nothing about this crash to attract his attention except that it was extra loud; that he paid no attention to it; that it was not sufficient to attract his attention. The record shows that there was a continuous movement of cars over and down the "hump," which were distributed among a large number of branch tracks within the yard, and that any two strings of these cars moving upon the same track might have come together and caused the crash which Bainbridge heard. There is no direct evidence that, in fact, the crash was occasioned by a collision of the two strings in question, and it is perfectly clear that no such fact was brought to Bainbridge's attention as a perception of the physical sense of sight or of hearing. At most there was an inference to that effect drawn from observed facts which gave equal support to the opposite inference that the crash was occasioned by the coming together of other strings of cars entirely away from the scene of the accident, or of the two-car string ridden by deceased and the seven-car string immediately ahead of it.
seq., 131 N.W. 1027; White v. Lehigh Valley R. Co., 220 N.Y. 131, 135, 115 N.E. 439; McGrath v. St. Louis Transit Co., 197 Mo. 97, 104, 94 S.W. 872; Quisenberry v. Met. Street Ry. Co., 142 Mo.App. 275, 281, 126 S.W. 182; Glancy v. McKees Rocks Borough, 243 Pa. 216, 219, 89 A. 972. Compare New York Central R. Co. v. Ambrose, 280 U. S. 486, 280 U. S. 489-490; Stevens v. The White City, 285 U. S. 195, 285 U. S. 203-204; Southern Ry. Co. v. Walters, 284 U. S. 190, 284 U. S. 194.
"There being several inferences deducible from the facts which appear, and equally consistent with all those facts, the plaintiff has not maintained the proposition upon which alone he would be entitled to recover. There is strictly no evidence to warrant a jury in finding that the loss was occasioned by negligence, and not by theft. When the evidence tends equally to sustain either of two inconsistent propositions, neither of them can be said to have been established by legitimate proof. A verdict in favor of the party bound to maintain one of those propositions against the other is necessarily wrong."
That Bainbridge concluded from what he himself observed that the crash was due to a collision between the two strings of cars in question is sufficiently indicated by his statements. But this, of course, proves nothing, since it is not allowable for a witness to resolve the doubt as to which of two equally justifiable inferences shall be adopted by drawing a conclusion which, if accepted, will result in a purely gratuitous award in favor of the party who has failed to sustain the burden of proof cast upon him by the law.
"It is well settled that, where plaintiff's case is based upon an inference or inferences, the case must fail upon proof of undisputed facts inconsistent with such inferences."
after a full stop, that none could have been made at Bond Avenue. But the argument amounts to mere speculation in view of the limited scope of the witnesses' observation, the downgrade of the railway tracks at the point, and the time element involved. (Compare Chicago, M. & St.P. R. Co. v. Coogan, 271 U. S. 472.) Five witnesses for defendant [employees] testified that a full stop was made and the crossing flagged, and that no one was hit by the rear of the tender, which was the front of the train."
"An examination of the record requires the conclusion that the evidence on the issue whether the train was stopped before crossing Bond Avenue was so insubstantial and insufficient that it did not justify a submission of that issue to the jury."
as this witness was not, the precise relation of the cars to one another. The fact that these witnesses were employees of the petitioner, under the circumstances here disclosed, does not impair this conclusion. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. v. Martin, 283 U. S. 209, 283 U. S. 216-220.
"there is a preliminary question for the judge not whether there is literally no evidence, but whether there is any upon which a jury can properly proceed to find a verdict for the party producing it, upon whom the onus of proof is imposed."
Pleasants v. Fant, 22 Wall. 116, 89 U. S. And, where the evidence is "so overwhelmingly on one side as to leave no room to doubt what the fact is, the court should give a peremptory instruction to the jury." Gunning v. Cooley, 281 U. S. 90, 281 U. S. 94; Patton v. Texas & Pacific Ry. Co., 179 U. S. 658, 179 U. S. 660. The rule is settled for the federal courts, and for many of the state courts, that whenever, in the trial of a civil case, the evidence is clearly such that, if a verdict were rendered for one of the parties, the other would be entitled to a new trial, it is the duty of the judge to direct the jury to find according to the views of the court. Such a practice, this Court has said, not only saves time and expense, but "gives scientific certainty to the law in its application to the facts and promotes the ends of justice." Bowditch v. Boston, 101 U. S. 16, 101 U. S. 18; Barrett v. Virginian Ry. Co., 250 U. S. 473, 250 U. S. 476, and cases cited; Herbert v. Butler, 97 U. S. 319, 97 U. S. 320. The scintilla rule has been definitely and repeatedly rejected so far as the federal courts are concerned. Improvement Co. v. Munson, 14 Wall. 442, 81 U. S. 448; Commissioners v. Clark, 94 U. S. 278, 94 U. S. 284; Small Co. v. Lamborn & Co., 267 U. S. 248, 267 U. S. 254; Gunning v. Cooley, supra; Ewing v. Goode, supra, at pp. 443-444.
Leaving out of consideration, then, the inference relied upon, the case for respondent is left without any substantial support in the evidence, and a verdict in her favor would have rested upon mere speculation and conjecture. This, of course, is inadmissible. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. v. Coogan, 271 U. S. 472, 271 U. S. 478; Gulf, M. & N. R. Co. v. Wells, 275 U. S. 455, 275 U. S. 459; New York C. R. Co. v. Ambrose, supra; Stevens v. The White City, supra.

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