Opinion ID: 1788913
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Submit to Jury Issue of Causal Negligence as to Train's Speed.

Text: Appellants Richard Dombeck and Integrity Mutual, in their motions after verdict, did not move for a new trial on the ground that the verdict should have contained questions inquiring as to whether the Railroad Company was causally negligent with respect to speed. Therefore they cannot raise such issue on this appeal. Wells v. Dairyland Mut. Ins. Co. (1957), 274 Wis. 505, 518, 80 N. W. (2d) 380; Huffman v. Reinke (1955), 268 Wis. 489, 491, 67 N. W. (2d) 871. However, appellant Russell Dombeck did move for a new trial on this ground and raises the issue on this appeal. While his son Richard's negligence is imputed to him by sec. 343.15 (2), Stats., insofar as third parties such as the Railroad Company are concerned, a finding of causal negligence with respect to speed against the Railroad Company might have affected the jury's answers to the two subdivisions of the comparative-negligence question where 50 percent of the aggregate causal negligence was apportioned to both Richard Dombeck and the Railroad Company. However, even if in such event the jury would have apportioned less than 50 percent of the aggregate causal negligence to Richard, a serious question would be presented whether his causal negligence was not at least 50 percent of the whole as a matter of law, which, for the reasons hereinafter stated, we find unnecessary to decide. The matter of railroad train speeds at grade crossings is in the exclusive jurisdiction of the public service commission. See sec. 192.29 (1), Stats. [1] It is agreed that prior to the accident the commission had made no order setting a maximum speed for trains at the instant crossing. This statute in its present form, conferring such jurisdiction upon the commission to fix speed limits at grade crossings, was enacted in 1949. Prior to that enactment the statute itself fixed maximum speed limits at grade crossings in villages and cities. See sec. 192.29 (1) and (2), Stats. 1947. In the instant case the Railroad Company contends that in the absence of any order of the commission with respect to this crossing, no speed could be held negligent. While this contention has some merit we are of the opinion that there are at least two situations in which train speed at a grade crossing might constitute negligence even though the commission had made no order with respect to a particular crossing. One of these was pointed out in McLuckie v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. (1959), 5 Wis. (2d) 652, 657, 94 N. W. (2d) 182, where this court held that the peculiar or unusual circumstances there prevailing made it the duty of the railroad to conform its speed to standards of due care. In the instant case we doubt if the crossing presented such peculiar or unusual circumstances as to call for invoking the exception enunciated in McLuckie, but find it unnecessary to decide this point. Another situation in which a railroad company might be held guilty of negligent speed at a grade crossing, even though the commission had not established a speed limit for such crossing, was alluded to in Schulz v. Chicago, M., St. P. & P. R. Co. (1952), 260 Wis. 541, 549, 51 N. W. (2d) 542, where the railroad company had by its own rule established a speed limit for its trains which was violated. The trainmaster testified that the maximum permissible speed established by defendant Railroad Company for a freight train was 40 miles per hour. While this is not in the company rule book it is governed by a timetable or train order. Although the great weight of the evidence is that the train was traveling at a speed of 35 to 40 miles per hour as it approached the crossing, plaintiff Beulah Dombeck testified it was then traveling at a speed of 65 miles per hour. She made this observation while standing in the doorway of the Dombeck home. Notwithstanding the evidence as to speed we conclude that under the facts of this case, assuming that the speed of the train was negligent, such speed as a matter of law could not be causal. In order to be causal the train's speed must either have misled Richard Dombeck, the driver of the car, or it must have interfered with the control and management of the train to the extent of rendering it probable that such control and management would have otherwise been effective to have avoided the collision. The evidence here excludes both of these hypotheses. Richard's testimony clearly excludes the possibility that he was misled as to the speed of the train and that he attempted to cross in front of it on reliance that it was traveling at a lesser speed than it actually was. This is apparent from this verbatim extract taken from his testimony: Q. When you saw the train, what did you do then? Did you try to put on the brakes, or did you push on the accelerator? A. I pushed on the accelerator. Q. Trying to get across? A. To try to get across, yes. Q. The reason you did that, as I understand it, was because of the fact that you thought you couldn't stop due to the weather a short distance at all? A. That's right. Q. Because of the conditions of the highway? A. Yes. The foregoing clearly establishes that the reason Richard attempted to cross the track by accelerating instead of trying to stop was because he had concluded that he could not stop before reaching the track. Speed is not causal merely because the train arrived at the crossing the instant it did while if it had been going slower the car might have safely crossed ahead of it. See Baker v. Herman Mut. Ins. Co. (1962), 17 Wis. (2d) 597, 602, 117 N. W. (2d) 725, wherein this court declared: This court has never held that excessive or unlawful speed is causal merely because it places the vehicle at a particular place at a particular time. Excessive speed is causal, however, when it prevents or retards the operator, after seeing danger, from slowing down, stopping, or otherwise controlling the vehicle so as to avoid a collision. The second sentence of the above-quoted extract is apposite with respect to the question of whether, if the train had been traveling at 40 miles per hour instead of a speed up to 65 miles per hour as testified to by Mrs. Dombeck, the throwing on of the emergency brakes at the point where they were applied would have slowed down its speed sufficiently to have enabled the car to safely cross the track. Appellants point to the evidence that all but the rear two or three feet of the car had gotten across when struck by the locomotive. As previously herein pointed out there is no evidence upon which to base a reasonable inference that the engineer ought to have observed that the slow-moving Dombeck car was not going to stop for the crossing until he shouted to the fireman, at which time the front of the train was 50 feet from the crossing. Some allowance must be allocated to the fireman's reaction time on hearing such shouted order before he could throw the emergency brakes into operation. As it was, the train traveled approximately 400 feet after the emergency brakes were applied before coming to a stop. The fireman testified he could not apply the emergency brakes within a third of a second. A vehicle traveling at 40 miles per hour travels at the rate of 59 feet per second. Thus at that speed the train would have traveled more than 20 of the 50 available feet to the crossing before the brakes could have been applied by the fireman. There is no evidence in the record that the application of the emergency brakes at a point 30 feet from the crossing would have reduced the train's speed sufficiently to have avoided the collision. We think the probabilities are that it would not. In any event a jury should not be permitted to speculate as to this. The situation is different with respect to the operation of automobiles where it can be assumed that jurors possess some knowledge of stopping distances and effectiveness of automobile brakes. This is not the situation with respect to the operation and stopping of trains. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not err in failing to submit a jury question as to the train's speed since the evidence could not support a finding that any such speed was causal.