Trousclair v. Pacific Coast Steamship Co.

Hayne, C. Action for damages for personal injuries; verdict and judgment for plaintiff; defendant appeals.

The defendant is a corporation owning and operating a wharf extending into the bay of San Diego, at which vessels land. Along the length of the wharf was a railroad track which was used for the purpose of transporting freight to the shore. On one side of this track was a space about seven feet, which was used as a passageway for travelers along the wharf. On this side was a landing for small boats, with steps going down to the water, and a boat-house which was rented by the defendant to a man who kept boats for hire. On the other side was a space of about thirteen inches between the outer rail and the edge of the wharf. On this side, about three hundred yards from the shore, was a raft moored to the wharf. There was some staging there, with steps down to the raft. The plaintiff must have been familiar with the general features of the place, for he testifies that he had “been going there for about three years.”

[523]On the day of the accident, the plaintiff had been fishing on the raft. While there, he accepted an invitation from one of his companions to go boating. The companion procured a boat and attempted to bring it up to the raft. He did not succeed in getting it close enough; and the boat drifted alongside the wharf. He then told the plaintiff to go upon the wharf and get down from there into the boat, which the plaintiff proceeded to do. The boat might have been brought up to the raft with slight trouble. The plaintiff himself testifies in this regard as follows: “I don’t know what there was to obstruct the passage to the raft ; he did n’t get up close enough. I suppose if he had taken a run out and back again he might have come in. I don’t recollect any obstruction to prevent his getting in.” When the plaintiff got into the boat the bow had got under the wharf, with which the boat then made an angle. The mast was close up to the side of the wharf, and projected several feet above it. The companion was in the stern.

According to the plaintiff’s story, he was engaged for ten or fifteen minutes in trying to push the boat out from the wharf. While so engaged, the train came backing out toward the end of the wharf at the rate of about “six or eight” miles an hour. When about forty yards from the boat, the lookout on the end of the train saw the mast and the plaintiff, and signaled the engineer to stop. The latter did not see the signal as soon as he ought to have done. And although when he did see it, he tried to stop, he was not able to do so before the place of danger was reached. The edge of the cars caught the mast and broke it in two. The plaintiff was struck by the mast, thrown against a cross-piece or “cap-head,” on which the floor of the wharf rested, knocked overboard, and seriously injured.