Stokes v. Wabash Railroad Co.

Respondent recovered a judgment for $35,000 against appellant in the circuit court of the City of St. Louis for personal injuries he alleged he received when, as a pedestrian, he was struck by one of appellant’s trains at a crossing in Kirksville, Missouri. The jury’s verdict was in favor of appellant’s co-defendant, Roy Brooks, the engineer who operated the train.

Appellant’s first assignment of error is that “plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, so verdict in his favor was erroneous.” The case was submitted to the jury solely upon the humanitarian doctrine. We…