Walling v. Friend

This is an appeal by Berryman Henwood, Trustee of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, to review a judgment for $67,000 for plaintiff O. R. Chaney in an action brought under the Federal Employers Liability Act, § 1, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, and the Safety Appliance Act, § 2, 45 U.S.C.A. § 2, for injuries sustained by plaintiff who fell while he was attempting to pull a coupling pin during a switching operation, and was run over by one of the cars. Plaintiff charged defendant with negligence in failing to furnish a reasonably safe place in which to work and in using a car with defective coupling apparatus. The District Court withdrew from the jury the issue of defective equipment, and the case was submitted solely on the question whether plaintiff slipped on oil and mud which defendant negligently permitted to accumulate at the place of the accident; or whether, as contended by defendant, plaintiffs coat caught on some part of the railroad car, causing plaintiff to be thrown under it.