Mitchell v. Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad

This is a personal injury action under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. The plaintiff was injured when hit in the head by a flying piece of wood while he was coupling railroad cars on the defendant’s depot siding at Fairbury, Illinois. He filed a complaint alleging, in Count I, that he was injured by reason the coupling mechanism’s being defective and therefore in violation of the Federal Safety Appliance Act, and, in Count II, that the defendant was negligent.

The trial court submited the two counts to a jury. The jury awarded the plaintiff $10,000.00. In answer to a special…