Opinion ID: 1315869
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Question of Whether the Verdict was Contrary to the Evidence

Text: As has been previously indicated, one of the appellant's claims is that the verdict rendered by the jury was contrary to the weight of the evidence. In addressing questions of this sort, this Court has rather consistently recognized: In determining whether there is sufficient evidence to support a jury verdict the court should: (1) consider the evidence most favorable to the prevailing party; (2) assume that all conflicts in the evidence were resolved by the jury in favor of the prevailing party; (3) assume as proved all facts which the prevailing party's evidence tends to prove; and (4) give to the prevailing party the benefit of all favorable inferences which reasonably may be drawn from the facts proved. Syllabus Point 5, Orr v. Crowder, 173 W.Va. 335, 315 S.E.2d 593 (1983). See also Pote v. Jarrell, 186 W.Va. 369, 412 S.E.2d 770 (1991) and Pinnacle Mining v. Duncan Aircraft Sales, 182 W.Va. 307, 387 S.E.2d 542 (1989). This Court believes that when the evidence is examined in line with these principles, it was sufficient to support the jury's verdict. During trial, the appellant claimed that his injury occurred while he was trying to throw a Norfolk and Western switch which was defective, and which Norfolk and Western Railway Company knew was defective. He testified that, immediately before his injury, he grasped the switch lever or handle with both hands as he had been trained to do, that the handle was stiff, or difficult to move, and that he had to yank it. As he yanked it, the handle moved three or four inches and then suddenly stopped, and the appellant felt a jolt of pain in his low back and legs. He collapsed on the road bed next to the switch; his coworkers came to his aid and summoned help; and his supervisor transported him to a hospital where he received medical attention. To show specifically that the switch was defective, the appellant called as an expert witness Harold E. Wall, Jr., a former railroad trackman who was also a federal railway track safety inspector. Mr. Wall testified that the switch on which the appellant was injured was difficult to throw because a keeper was improperly aligned with the switch handle. He also testified that the placement of shims in the switch mechanism indicated that there was a problem or defect with a switch gear. He concluded that the switch was defective, that its condition violated custom and practice in the railroad industry, and that the switch was unsafe. He indicated that a reasonable inspection of the switch would have revealed its defects and that when a railroad observes such a switch on its property, custom and practice demands that it replace or repair the switch. To show that the Norfolk and Western Railway Company had knowledge of the problems with the switch, the appellant adduced the testimony of Michael Keith Rutherford, a Norfolk and Western employee who had thrown the switch, which allegedly caused the appellant's injury, 25 to 30 times prior to the appellant's injury. Mr. Rutherford testified that the switch was hard to throw, that the switch handle rubbed against the switch cradle, and that he had reported the switch as defective to the train dispatcher at Kenova, West Virginia, sometime in 1994 prior to the appellant's injury. He further testified that the switch had been difficult to throw ever since it had been placed in service, and to his knowledge, it had never been repaired. Another employee, John Edward Smith, also stated that the switch was hard to throw and needed attention. He testified that he reported the switch as defective on several occasions over the radio to Norfolk and Western's dispatcher and that he also reported it as defective to Jack Stepp, the Norfolk and Western track supervisor who had installed the switch and who was responsible for its maintenance. Mr. Smith testified that in spite of his repeated reports, the condition of the switch never changed before the appellant's injury. In addition to introducing evidence relating to the events surrounding his injury and the condition of the switch, the appellant introduced medical evidence indicating that he had sustained serious disability as a result of his back injury. To counter the appellant's evidence, the Norfolk and Western Railway Company presented the testimony of Denver Copley, the engineer on the appellant's train at the time of the appellant's injury. Mr. Copley testified that he actually witnessed the incident in which the appellant was injured and that the appellant at the time of the incident was attempting to throw the switch with one hand, a procedure which was unsafe and which constituted a violation of Norfolk and Western's safety rules. Norfolk and Western also called J.D. Farley, its road foreman of engines, who testified that approximately one hour after the appellant's injury, he inspected the switch along with assistant track supervisor Jack Stepp. Mr. Farley stated that he threw the switch several times and, although he noticed that the handle rubbed very slightly against the keeper mechanism, the switch was not unduly hard to throw or unsafe in any way. Another witness for Norfolk and Western Railway Company, Larry Reed, Norfolk and Western's assistant superintendent from Williamson, indicated that the appellant had been given training as to how a switch should be thrown and that that training required the use of both hands. Mr. Reed, who was a Safety Committee member, further testified that at Norfolk and Western Safety Committee meetings, safety issues were raised, but so far as he knew, based upon his memory and his review of extensive Safety Committee minutes, the switch which the appellant was attempting to throw was never reported to the committee as being in need of repair, or as being hard to throw, in the ten-month period prior to the appellant's injury. Jack Stepp, Norfolk and Western's assistant track supervisor, the individual responsible for inspecting and maintaining the switch on which the appellant was injured, testified that his job included inspecting the switch on which the appellant was injured at least once a week. He stated that the Norfolk and Western Railway Company had never been cited or fined by the Federal Railroad Administration for problems with the switch and that on at least one occasion prior to October 6, 1994, he had been accompanied by a Federal Railroad Administration inspector who had inspected and thrown the switch in question. Mr. Stepp expressed the opinion that the switch was in full compliance with Norfolk and Western's rules and standards. To rebut the appellant's evidence relating to the severity of his injury and disability, Norfolk and Western Railway Company further introduced testimony from an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David Santrock, who indicated that the appellant's injury had not resulted in serious permanent disability. Norfolk and Western Railway Company also adduced testimony from its manager of Disability Support Services, Richard Hyath, which suggested that a position could be found for the appellant, even in his injured condition, with the Norfolk and Western Railway Company. Although the evidence adduced by the appellant would suggest that the switch on which he was injured was defective, and that Norfolk and Western Railway Company knew of the defect, the appellant's evidence was rebutted by the testimony of the witnesses for Norfolk and Western Railway Company. Likewise, the appellant's testimony as to the severity of his injury and disability was rebutted. Overall, this Court believes that when the conflicts in the evidence, and its inferences, are resolved in line with the principles set forth in Syllabus Point 5 of Orr v. Crowder, supra , the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's verdict. B.