Lamport v. Southern Pacific Co.

SHAW, J.

The defendant appeals from the judgment. The complaint stated a cause of action to recover damages for the death of the plaintiff’s intestate, Lester C. Lamport,

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which death, it is alleged, was caused by the negligence of the defendant. Lamport was in the employ of the defendant as a switchman in the Oakland yards at the time of his death.

The only point argued by the defendant in support of its appeal is that the evidence is insufficient to support the allegations of the complaint with regard to the negligence of the defendant. The complaint alleges that while Lam-port was engaged in his work as switchman, standing near one of the switch-tracks of the defendant, the defendant ran one of its cars against and over him, causing his death; that said death was caused solely by the negligence of defendant in giving no warning or notice of the approach of said car, and in negligently failing to have any light upon the car that struck the decedent.

There was evidence of the following facts: At the time of the accident two trains' were being operated in the switch-yard of the defendant. One of them was the train with which Lamport was connected. It was upon a track on which there was a platform scale for weighing cars. It was being operated to place the rear car on the platform in the track, so as to have the car weighed. It was necessary to stop the car that was to be weighed at the exact spot where its whole weight would be on the rails laid upon the scale platform. This was a process termed “spotting the car.” The accident happened at about midnight. At each end of the scale a light was erected to enable the switchman to ascertain when this car was exactly at the right place to be cut out and weighed. The train with which Lamport was engaged was several car-lengths away moving toward the scales upon a cross-over track leading from another track to the track in which the scales were affixed. This made it a curved track and required that Lamport should stand some distance to one side from the scale-track in order that the engineer, who was upon the engine of that train at the farther end thereof, could see his signals and be informed of the exact point at which to stop. It was also necessary for him to observe the lights opposite the end of the scale, so as to see precisely when to give the signal. At a point some fifteen feet from the scales on the side on which Lam-port had to stand to give the signals to his engineer there was another straight track upon which another engineer and