Robert M. Spellacy, as Guardian Ad Litem of Patrick James Spellacy, a Minor v. Southern Pacific Company and Ronald Burke

Robert M. Spellacy, then fifteen years old, lost both of his legs at a point below the knees, when he fell under the wheels of a moving freight car in the Southern Pacific Company’s train yard in Portland, Oregon. Just prior to the accident Spellacy had been discovered as a trespasser and had been taken to an office in the yard. He had broken away from this custody and, at the time of the accident, was running through the yard with the company’s Special Agent William Ray Horn and Portland Police Officer Ronald Burke in pursuit.

Acting through his guardian ad litem, Spellacy commenced this diversity suit against the Southern Pacific, and Officer Burke, to recover damages in excess of $1,500,000. The jury returned a verdict for defendants and the district court accordingly entered a judgment dismissing the action. This appeal followed.

Plaintiff argues that the act of Special Agent Horn in arresting Spellacy and taking him to a company office in the yard was unlawful. But plaintiff does not indicate wherein this led to error at the trial. No useful purpose is served by discussing an abstract issue such as this which is unrelated to any claimed error by the trial court. The same…