J. C. Bearden v. Louisville & Nashville

STAKELY, Justice. This is an action under the Alabama Wrongful Death Act, Code 1940, Tit. 7, § 123, brought by J. C. Bearden (appellant), as Administrator of the Estate of Box Bearden, deceased, against the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company and A. R. Murphree (appellees). Initially a defendant but later stricken as a party was J. P. Hilton. A good many counts in the complaint were filed in the trial court, but the case was submitted to the jury only on a count charging subsequent negligence: that 'after discovering the peril of the plaintiff's intestate, Box Bearden, said A. R. Murphree negligently caused or allowed said train to run over or against plaintiff's intestate, Box Bearden * * *' After the oral charge, the trial court gave numerous written charges requested by the appellees. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants (appellees). A motion for a new trial was overruled and this appeal followed.