Monforton v. Northern Pacific Railway Company

I dissent.

Ernest Monforton, without warning, while driving a pick-up truck, was run down and seriously injured by a Northern Pacific passenger train at a railroad crossing on a country road near Belgrade, Montana. This is a suit to recover damages for the injuries and loss so occasioned.

In its answer, the defendant Railway Company pleaded contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff Monforton. At trial, the district judge, presumed to be a reasonable man, held that the question of the alleged contributory negligence of the plaintiff Monforton, if any, was properly a question for the…