Illinois Central Railroad v. Maffit

Citations

• 67 Ill. 431

Syllabus

<p>I. Negligence—rule in case of comparative negligence. The rule adopted by this court in respect to comparative negligence is, that the plaintiff, although guilty of some negligence, may nevertheless recover if the defendant is guilty of such a degree of negligence as, when compared, that of the plaintiff is slight, and that of the defendant is great.</p> <p>2. In a suit against a railway company to recover for injury sustained by a collision with its train, on the ground of negligence in not giving the statutory signals before reaching a public crossing, an instruction leaving the jury at liberty to find for the plaintiff, even if they found he was guilty of great negligence, provided the defendant was only guilty of more negligence, does not state the law of comparative negligence correctly.</p> <p>3. Same—instruction as to what is. In such action, the court instructed the jury that, if they “believed, from the evidence, that the persons in charge of the engine in question saw the top of the plaintiff’s wagon as it approached the crossing, and continued to see the same until the wagon reached such crossing, and that persons approaching such crossing from the east could not see a train until they were within about thirty feet of such crossing, then it was the duty of such persons in charge of said train to have slackened the speed of said engine, and to have warned the plaintiff of its approach by sounding its whistle or ringing a bell, and a failure to do so would be negligence on the part of the defendantHeld, that the instruction was calculated to confuse, and ought not to have been given.</p> <p>4. Instructions—should he correct in themselves, without reference to those of the other party. In a case where the evidence is conflicting, each party has a right to have the jury clearly and accurately instructed as to the law of the case. In such a case, the fact that the law is accurately stated on one side will .not obviate errors in those given for the other par