Weckter v. Great Northern Railway Co.

Citations

• 54 Wash. 203
• 102 P. 1053
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 972

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Negligence—Cause of Death- — Evidence-Sufficiency — Nonsuit. In an action for the death of a brakeman, alleged to have been knocked from a car by an unusual crash in switching, there is not sufficient evidence of the cause of his death to submit the case to a jury, and a nonsuit should have been granted, where there was no direct proof as to the cause of his death, and it merely appears that his body was found on the tracks about fifteen minutes after an unusual crash in switching cars, which experts testified would have been sufficient to knock him off the top of a car, that it would have been his duty to be at the brakes, that his lantern was found on the top of a car and he was last seen ascending a car; as the cáuse of death would be left to conjecture.</p> <p>Same — Direction of Verdict. In such a case, it is proper to direct a verdict for the defendants, even if the plaintiff made a case in the first instance, where the defendants’ evidence showed that the crash of cars was caused by two cars coming together on a track other than the one on which the brakeman met his death, and that the car he was seen to be climbing had been cut loose from the train and was slowly passing down a track other than the one on which the crash of cars occurred.</p>