Smith v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.

Citations

• 79 Wash. 448

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Federal Employers’ Liability Act — Pleading. As against objection for the first time on motion for a directed verdict, a complaint under the Federal employers’ liability act sufficiently alleges that a railroad company’s branch line was used in interstate commerce, although not directly alleged, where the same was fairly inferable from general allegations that the defendant owned' an interstate system of railways with several branches engaged in interstate commerce between several states, one of which was the branch in question.</p> <p>Appeal — Preservation of Grounds — Objections—Waiver. In an action under the Federal employers’ liability act, in which the trial proceeded upon the theory that the action was brought under that act, and the court charged, without exception taken, that it was conceded that the defendant was engaged in interstate commerce, it is too late to urge, by motion for a directed verdict, that there was no pleading or proof of that fact.</p> <p>Master and Servant — Injury to Servant — Negligence — Questions for Jury. Whether there was negligence in allowing a pile to swing around and strike the plaintiff, a member of a railroad bridge crew, is a question for the jury, where there was evidence that the accident would not have happened if the engineer operating the pile driver engine had held onto the line, which it was his duty to do until he received a signal to let go, and' that he let go without a signal, thereby causing the accident.</p> <p>Damages — Personal Injuries — Aggravation—Second Accident— Liability — Instructions. Where plaintiff, while in the hospital, fell and refractured his broken leg, and defendant claimed that the second fracture was due to plaintiff’s intoxication, it is proper to instruct that the defendant, through whose negligence the first injury was sustained, would be liable in damages for the additional suffering and delay, as the proximate result of the original injury, if the second accident