Emme v. Pennsylvania Railroad

MR. PRESIDING JUSTICE SCHWARTZ

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal by plaintiff from a judgment for $20,000 in a Federal Employers’ Liability case. The principal issues are the adequacy of the damages awarded, the propriety of the court’s conduct in answering a question asked by the jurors after they had retired to consider their verdict, and alleged error in an instruction relating to contributory negligence.

Plaintiff was employed as a member of a wrecking crew which had gone to the scene of a wreck near Kouts, Indiana, about 50 miles from Chicago, for the purpose of raising…