Union Pac. R. v. De Vaney

Martin DeVaney was awarded the sum of $2,883.66 against the Union Pacific Railroad Company in an action under Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq., as compensation for injuries which the court found he had sustained as the proximate result of Union Pacific’s negligence. The company appeals, claiming that the evidence was insufficient to support the findings of fact, that the doctrine *25 of res ipsa loquitur is not applicable to the case, that there is no evidence of any negligence on the part of the appellant which proximately contributed to the happening of the alleged accident, and that there was no evidence of proximate causal connection between the alleged accident and injury complained of.

There is evidence to support the following version of the accident. Appellee worked on a local freight train as a brakeman, and it was his job to observe the running condition of the train and to follow instructions of the conductor as to what cars should be placed at certain stations and also to pick up cars as the conductor would instruct him. It was his duty to examine the train from end to end at every stop or to walk as far as he could and catch the rear end of…