Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/553/1339/431999/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 20:16:18+00:00

Document:
Glenn R. Graves, Washington, D. C., with whom Bernard Povich, Washington, D. C., was on the brief for appellant.
James C. McKay, Washington, D. C., with whom Matthew F. Medeiros, Washington, D. C., was on the brief for appellee.
Before BAZELON, Chief Judge, TAMM, Circuit Judge and JUSTICE,* United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Texas.
Opinion for the Court filed by District Judge JUSTICE.
Concurring opinion filed by Circuit Judge TAMM.
On September 9, 1972, at approximately 10:00 P.M., appellant Calvin R. Hopkins crossed the Penn Central railroad yards on his way to a bus stop at 36th and Benning Road, Washington, D. C. Finding his path blocked by a stationary train, Hopkins peered between two of the parked railroad cars. When the engine at the head of the line of cars began moving, Hopkins was knocked to the ground and run over by the train.
On April 9, 1973, Hopkins filed suit against Penn Central in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking damages for the loss of both his legs, his left arm, and part of a finger. The case was first tried in June of 1974, but a mistrial was declared when the jury failed to agree upon a verdict. In December of 1974, a second trial concluded with a jury verdict and judgment in favor of Penn Central. This appeal followed.
We are presented with three points of error. First, appellant contends that the trial court erred in instructing the jury that appellant's violation of a District of Columbia Police Regulation could be considered as evidence of contributory negligence. Next, appellant argues that the trial court submitted an erroneous instruction regarding the law of "alternative routes". Finally, appellant complains of the trial court's limitation of testimony concerning prior public usage of the railroad property.
"No unauthorized person shall loiter, walk, ride, drive or otherwise trespass upon the tracks or upon the bridges or elevated or depressed structures carrying tracks, or upon locomotives or cars operated on tracks; or in tunnels or underpasses designed or used solely for the accomodation of tracks of any steam, diesel, or electric railroad company operating in the District of Columbia."
This regulation sets out the applicable standard of conduct which of itself normally fixes the duty of care required by a person in the same situation as the plaintiff.
Ordinarily, the unexplained violation of this regulation is negligence as a matter of law.
However, in this case the plaintiff has presented evidence which he claims excuses or justifies the violation. Therefore, the violation of this regulation is only evidence of negligence which you may consider along with all of the other evidence presented on that question.
Whether or not such negligence, if any, caused the injury is a separate question. Unlike this negligence proximately caused the injury, the fact of its existence is of no consequence.
Appellant does not contend that the foregoing instruction was incorrectly drawn, or that it inaccurately apprised the jury of the effect to be given a statutory violation.4 Rather, appellant argues that the Police Regulation in issue was rendered inoperative or inapplicable by a prior ruling of this court. Specifically, appellant argues that this court's decision in Smith v. Arbaugh's Restaurant, Inc., 152 U.S.App.D.C. 86, 469 F.2d 97 (1972), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 939, 93 S. Ct. 2774, 37 L. Ed. 2d 399 (1973), precluded the jury's consideration of a statute which allegedly does no more than define the status of a trespasser on railroad property.
In Arbaugh's Restaurant this court was not required to decide whether the common law standard of care toward trespassers should be preserved intact, or abandoned along with the "invitee" and "licensee" classifications. Thus, some confusion today exists regarding the landowner's duty toward an adult trespasser.6 But even assuming that this court has eliminated the trespasser classification along with all others, we perceive no error in the trial court's instructions. It can hardly be said that the mere inclusion of the word "trespass" in the Police Regulation somehow subverted an essentially7 appropriate measure of personal conduct. Nor did the trial court's general instruction8 on the railroad's duty suggest a governing standard less than reasonable care. Thus, under even the most expansive reading of the opinion in Arbaugh's Restaurant, we find no error in the trial court's instruction on the statutory violation.
A person to whom two courses of conduct are open is required to exercise ordinary care in choosing which course he will pursue. If, under the same or similar circumstances, an ordinarily prudent person would not have so chosen, one having a choice is negligent in pursuing a course which is dangerous rather than one which is safe or even less dangerous. . . . However, ordinary care in making a choice between courses of conduct is all that is required.
Appellant's final point of error concerns the trial court's limitation of testimony regarding prior public crossings of the Penn Central railroad yard. For reasons of "remoteness", the trial judge restricted appellant's evidence of prior usage of the land to the single year 1972, and to the area consisting only of the precise path used by the plaintiff when he was injured. Appellant was thereby hampered in his effort to demonstrate that his presence on this occasion was foreseeable to the railroad.
In this case, proof of prior usage by the public therefore comprised an important part of "all the circumstances" to be contemplated by the jury.
Simply put, the effect of the trial court's ruling was to deny the jury the opportunity to hear and evaluate most of the relevant evidence pertaining to a crucial element of the plaintiff's case. For this reason we hold that such action was indeed inconsistent with substantial justice.
I reluctantly join in the court's conclusion that under the standard of Smith v. Arbaugh's Restaurant, Inc., 152 U.S.App.D.C. 86, 469 F.2d 97 (1972), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 939, 93 S. Ct. 2774, 37 L. Ed. 2d 399 (1973), it was error for the district court to exclude the plaintiff's proffered evidence of the use of the railroad yard by unauthorized pedestrians. My reluctance arises not from any doubts as to the legal correctness of the court's decision, but rather from a practical concern that our action will only generate duplicative legal process yet leave the parties in exactly the same position as they are in now.
As a result of our decision today, this case must be completely retried in the district court. No doubt the evidence will be substantially the same as that in the previous trials of this same suit with the marginal addition of testimony about others' use of the railroad yard in the area of the plaintiff's accident. I cannot avoid the firm conviction that this marginal difference will not tip the evidentiary scales in plaintiff's favor so as to change the jury's conclusion that the railroad did not act negligently in the circumstances of this case.
Nevertheless, as an appellate court, we should not usurp the function of the trier of fact and I cannot say that the exclusion of this evidence was harmless error. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 61. The question of the extent to which the railroad could have foreseen plaintiff's use of the track yard as a walkway was not adequately established by other evidence. See Smith v. Bear, 237 F.2d 79, 89 (2d Cir. 1956). The evidence proffered was neither remote nor cumulative. See Jones v. United States, 387 F.2d 1004, 1007-08 (10th Cir. 1967), cert. denied, 392 U.S. 927, 88 S. Ct. 2284, 20 L. Ed. 2d 1385 (1968). Although, as I have indicated, I doubt that the issue of foreseeability was determinative in the jury's verdict for the defendant I cannot find that it had no bearing on their decision. See United States v. Heyward-Robinson Co., 430 F.2d 1077, 1083 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 1021, 91 S. Ct. 582, 27 L. Ed. 2d 632 (1971); Larson v. General Motors Corp., 148 F.2d 319, 322 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 326 U.S. 745, 66 S. Ct. 34, 90 L. Ed. 445 (1945).
This issue, although not unimportant, was raised for the first time on appeal. Accordingly, we decline to consider it. See, e. g., Brown v. Collins, 131 U.S.App.D.C. 68, 402 F.2d 209 (1968).
(I)t was proper to call the attention of the jury to the relative rights, duties and obligations of the respective parties at a place commonly used as a crossing, if the evidence showed it to be such a place. If it had been used as a crossing to such an extent as that the defendant must reasonably have known of such user, without objecting thereto and taking steps to prevent it, if indeed it had any right to prevent it, then the deceased was not a trespasser, and it was proper to tell the jury of the established distinction between the degree of care which a railroad company is bound to exercise toward a mere trespasser upon its tracks and towards those who may have occasion to cross them at a commonly used and resorted to for that purpose.
See also Peyla v. Duluth, M. & I. Ry. Co., 218 Minn. 196, 15 N.W.2d 518 (1944).
Since we hold that it was error to exclude evidence of pedestrians' use of the railroad yard prior to 1972, it is not necessary to decide whether the trial court's limitation of evidence as to other routes by which the public may have used the yard was also erroneous. The record is vague on this issue, and it was not extensively briefed or argued by the parties. Nevertheless, in the retrial of this case the district court should take full cognizance of the clear policy of the Federal Rules of Evidence that all relevant evidence should be admitted unless there is a sound reason for excluding it. Fed.R.Evid. 402; see United States v. 1,129.75 Acres of Land, 473 F.2d 996, 999 (8th Cir. 1973). The existence and use of other routes through the railroad yard would certainly seem to have the tendency to make the foreseeability of plaintiff's presence in the yard more probable. It would therefore meet the relevance test of 401, see Fed.R.Evid. 401, and if it is to be excluded the district court should provide an articulated reason justifying that action.

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