Grimshaw v. Rutland Railroad

Headnote

Negligence — railroads — crossing accident — when driver of automobile approaching dangerous crossing at speed of fifteen miles per hour guilty of contributory negligence.

Grimshaw v. Rutland R. R. Co., 205 App. Div. 155 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment, entered May 9, 1923, upon an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, reversing a judgment in

favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict and directing a dismissal of the complaint in an action to recover for personal injuries and for damage to personal property alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff through the negligence of defendant. The state highway from Mooers Junction to Champlain runs on the south side of the defendant’s railroad, nearly parallel to it, until it reaches a point a short distance west of Perry’s Mills, when it turns to the north and crosses the track of the defendant and then runs a considerable distance on the north side of the track. The accident occurred at about two-thirty p. m. The plaintiff was driving a five-passenger automobile from the village of Mooers towards the village of Champlain. He approached the crossing running at a speed of thirty miles per hour, as he says, until he arrived at the railroad disc sign, when he commenced to slow down, and was running at fifteen miles per hour when the train known as the milk train going west collided with him. The automobile was wrecked and the plaintiff injured. The Appellate Division held that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence.