Chicago & Alton Railroad v. Mock

Citations

• 72 Ill. 141

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence—contributory. In a suit against a railroad company for causing the death of a person through negligence, where there is a question as to whether the deceased was guilty of negligence or not, an instruction which directs the jury, if they believe certain facts, to find absolutely for the plaintiff, without containing the requirement of any degree of care whatever on the part of the deceased, is erroneous.</p> <p>2. In cases of mutual negligence, the general rule is, that a plaintiff who has been guilty of contributory negligence can not recover, but where the negligence of the plaintiff is slight and that of the defendant gross, the former may recover; but this court has never adopted any such rule as that the plaintiff would be entitled to recover on account of the negligence of defendant being greater than his.</p> <p>3. Pleading and evidence—recovery should be confined to the negligence as charged in the declaration. An instruction which allows a recovery for negligence in general respects, without limitation to the particulars of negligence specified in the declaration, is too broad.</p>