The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, a Corporation v. Porter Barrett

Plaintiff recovered a judgment in the District Court under the provisions of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, for head injuries suffered on March 11, 1955, while working as a waiter aboard one of appellant’s trains. The distinctive manifestation of plaintiff’s alleged injury was a jerking or twisting of the head, medically described as a “spasmodic torticollis.” This occurred with varying frequency, usually every few seconds. It apparently was pronounced enough during the trial to impress the jury, for it awarded him $12,500. Plaintiff had lost no time from work after the accident, and sought no medical care for over a month after it. The jerking allegedly started about three months after the accident.

Plaintiff was observed by defendant’s counsel after the trial, and the jerking or twitching appeared to have stopped. Plaintiff was placed under observation by under-cover operatives employed by the defendant, who took some motion pictures indicating that the twitching or jerking was no longer evident, at least during a two hour period. Plaintiff discovered he was being “tailed,” and the jerking again manifested itself. After the time to file a motion for new trial had…