Court Opinion

ID: 9459662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 21:27:36.056727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:36:16.183510
License: Public Domain

WEICK, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent for the reason that it is for the jury, and not an appellate court, to draw inferences from the evidence (whether controverted or uncontroverted) and to determine the issues of negligence, contributory negligence (comparative negligence), and proximate cause in an FELA ease. Here, this Court has undertaken to determine, as a matter of law, that acts of contributory negligence were really acts of assumption of risk, which is not a defense, and in consequence the Court has increased the verdict and judgment for plaintiff from $40,000 to $80,000.
The defendant did not plead assumption of risk, which is an affirmative defense, and it was therefore not in the case, Rule 8(c) Fed.R.Civ.P. Although it was not in the case, the plaintiff himself injected it in the case by persuading the District Court to charge on this subject. It is submitted that this was not proper. Dilley v. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry., 327 F.2d 249 (6th Cir.), cert, denied, 379 U.S. 824, 85 S.Ct. 47, 13 L.Ed. 2d 34 (1964).
The defendant in its answer pleaded contributory negligence, as follows:
“At the time and place of the occurrence complained of, Mr. Dixon—
(a) Negligently failed to effectively position himself as he operated the switch lever.
(b) Negligently failed to effectively balance himself as he operated the switch lever.
(e) Negligently exerted more effort in operating the switch lever than is reasonably required under the circumstances then and there existing.
(d) Negligently failed to effectively use ordinary care for his own safety and wellbeing; all directly and proximately causing the occurrence of which he now complains.”
Plaintiff’s interrogatory 8 and defendant’s answer thereto, are as follows:
“8. If defendant claims that plaintiff’s alleged accident was caused or contributed to by his own negligence, state upon what facts such claim is based.
Answer. Exerting himself beyond own known capabilities using equipment he was familiar with and was well aware of its condition and operation.”
Plaintiff requested the trial judge to instruct the jury that there was no evidence of contributory negligence, but the Court declined to do so, and the Court submitted to the jury the issues of negligence, contributory negligence, and proximate cause. It is not claimed that the Court erred in its instructions to the jury.
The jury returned its verdict and answered special interrogatories, as follows :
“We, the jury, find for the plaintiff and assess his damages in the sum of $80,000 less 50 percent negligence, $40,000. Signed Michael T. O’Brien, dated February 4, 1972.
“Members of the jury, is this your verdict ?
“(Thereupon, the jury indicated in the affirmative.)
“The Court: I have the Answers of the jury to the Interrogatories that were submitted.
“Interrogatory No. 1. Was the defendant negligent?
“The answer to that is ‘Yes’.
“Interrogatory No. 2. Did defendant’s negligence cause or in any way contribute to plaintiff's injury or damage ?
“The answer to that is ‘Yes’.
“Interrogatory No. 3. Was plaintiff negligent in any way which caused or contributed to his own injury or damage?
“The answer is ‘Yes’.
*839“Interrogatory No. 4. To what extent, expressed in percentage, did plaintiff’s negligence contribute to his' injury or damage?
“The answer is ‘50 percent.’
“Interrogatory No. 5. What amount do you find, without any reduction for any negligence which you may find on the part of the plaintiff, will fairly and adequately compensate the plaintiff for the injury or damage he received?
“And the answer is ‘$80,000.’ ” (App. 327-328).
What this Court is doing is setting aside not only a portion of the general verdict, but also setting aside the jury’s answers to the special interrogatories finding that plaintiff was negligent, which negligence caused or contributed to cause his own injury or damage, to the extent of fifty per cent.
The record shows that the switch was in a state of disrepair. Plaintiff had knowledge of this condition because he reported it to the company. At the time of his injury he was assisting two fellow-employees who were maintenance men and who were engaged in repairing the switch. This can hardly be classified as dangerous work.
Plaintiff’s function was to move the lever which operated the switch from a tower. The maintenance men were located on the ground while repairing the switch, and they could be seen and heard by plaintiff from windows in the tower or from the tower’s rear platform. Plaintiff was to jiggle the lever or throw the switch when the maintenance men signaled him by hand to do either. The difference between a hand signal to jiggle the lever or to throw the switch, is not clear from the record (App. 114). Plaintiff had jiggled the lever on a number of occasions just prior to his alleged injury. He received a hand signal which he testified that to the best of his knowledge was to throw the switch. The maintenance men were still on the ground and plaintiff could easily have called out to them from the rear platform, when he was having trouble in moving the switch, to ascertain whether they had completed the repairs and wanted the switch thrown. He did not do so; instead, he jiggled the lever a few times and when it would not move farther, he pushed hard against it in order to throw the switch. Plaintiff claims that the lever then bounced back, and he felt a severe pain in his back, which resulted in a serious injury.
Since plaintiff was operating the lever in front of him, it is clear that the lever never struck him in the back. The medical evidence as to the nature and extent of his injury is conflicting.
Plaintiff testified that he called to his fellow employees to tell them about his accident and that in response to his call they came to the tower. Both of them testified that plaintiff never mentioned anything about either his accident or his injury. Plaintiff also testified that on one previous occasion he had received a slight injury to his neck while operating the lever. His fellow-employees testified that it was not possible for the switch to bounce back. Because of his previous experience with the lever, plaintiff could have braced himself when applying force to the lever.
The Act provides that the railroad shall be liable in damages for an injury to an employee “resulting wholly or in part” from the negligence of its officers, agents, or employees. 45 U.S.C. §§ 51, 52. In its general verdict the jury assessed damages for the part resulting from defendant’s negligence, namely, $40,000. In answer to an interrogatory, the jury found that defendant was negligent. The defendant does not question the sufficiency of the evidence to support this finding. Section 53 of the Act abolishes contributory negligence as a defense, and substitutes comparative negligence. Section 54 abolishes assumption of risk as a defense.
The decision of the Supreme Court in Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645, 66 S.Ct. 740, 90 L.Ed. 916 (1946), makes it clear that in FELA cases issues of negligence *840and contributory negligence, as well as inferences to be drawn from the evidence, are for the jury and not for the Court to decide. In that case, the defendant contended and offered evidence to prove that it was physically impossible for the accident to have occurred in the manner claimed, and that the decedent was murdered. However, the Supreme Court held that the'jury had the right to infer negligence from various facts in the case, and upheld recovery.
It was for the jury to say whether there is a reasonable basis in the record for concluding that plaintiff’s alleged injury was caused in part by his own negligence. The inferences to be drawn from conflicting testimony are questions for the jury. An appellate court invades the jury’s function when it draws contrary inferences from uneontroverted, as well as controverted, facts, or concludes that a conclusion different from that reached by the jury is more reasonable. Ellis v. Union Pac. R.R., 329 U.S. 649, 67 S.Ct. 598, 91 L.Ed. 572 (1947); Tennant v. Peoria & P. U. Ry., 321 U.S. 29, 64 S.Ct. 409, 88 L.Ed. 520 (1944).
We followed Lavender and Ellis in Ganotis v. New York Cent. R.R., 342 F.2d 767, 768-769 (6th Cir. 1965), stating:
“One of the purposes of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, as amended, was to abolish the common law defenses of assumption of risk, fellow servant rule and contributory negligence. With respect to contributory negligence it established the rule of comparison of negligence instead of barring the employee from all recovery because of contributory negligence. Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., 318 U.S. 54, 63 S.Ct. 444, 87 L.Ed. 610. We do not believe that the Act also intended to make a distinction between proximate cause when considered in connection with the carrier’s negligence and proximate cause when considered in connection with the employee’s contributory negligence. If it had so intended, express words to that effect could easily have been used. We do not agree with appellant’s contention and find no error in the trial judge’s instructions. Gans v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., 319 F.2d 802, 804, C.A. 3rd.
We are also of the opinion that the evidence was sufficient to take the case to the jury on the question of plaintiff’s contributory negligence and to sustain its answer to the interrogatory on that issue. Lavender v. Kurn, 327 U.S. 645, 66 S.Ct. 740, 90 L.Ed. 916; Ellis v. Union Pacific R. Co., 329 U.S. 649, 652-653, 67 S.Ct. 598, 91 L.Ed. 572.”
I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.