Ed Croan Judgment

The following summary, taken from Railroad Reports [Vol. 28, American and English Railroad Cases, New Series, edited by Thomas J. Michie, Volume V, pages 509-510], describes the Court of Appeals judgment in the case of Ed Croan vs. the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in the case of the train wreck at Gap in Knob on 23 Dec 1899.

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The serious character of personal injuries seeming to justify on the ground of compensation alone the damages awarded, and it being a case authorizing punitive damages, passion and prejudice will not be considered to have entered into the verdict.

Appeal from circuit court, Bullitt county.

“Not to he officially reported.”

Action by Ed. Croan against the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Fairleigh. Straus & Eagles, for appellant.

Chas. Carroll and J. W. Croan, for appellee.

BURNAM, J. The appellee, Ed. Croan, was a passenger on defendant's train which was run into by a freight train whilst standing at Gap in Knob, a station in Bullitt county, on the 23d day of December, 1899, and sought in this proceeding to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been received in consequence thereof. A number of cases which were the outgrowth of this collision have been heretofore considered by this court. See Railroad Co. v. Simpson, 64 S. W. 733; Same v. McClain, 66 S. W. 391; Same v. Richmond, 67 S. W. 25; Same v. Carothers, 65 S. W. 833, 66 s. W. 385, - in which the facts as to the accident have been fully stated, and, it would seem, every question of law settled. The sole ground relied on by the appellant to reverse the judgment of the lower court in this case is that the verdict was so flagrantly against the weight of evidence as to indicate passion and prejudice. The appellee testified, in substance, that he was sitting near the rear door in the coach next to the baggage car, and in consequence of the collision his head struck the window over the seat, and his back the edge of the seat; that he had a large basket, filled with fruit, in his lap, and was thrown violently against the edge of the basket; that he received severe injuries in his neck and back, and that his right testicle and the spermatic cord connecting therewith were seriously hurt; and that he suffered continually ever since, and was confined to his bed for three or four weeks. His statements as to the injury to his testicle are very strongly corroborated by the testimony of Drs. Reynolds and Hoffman. Reynolds testified that “he found his right testicle enormously enlarged, and tender to the touch, and the spermatic cord three times its natural size, with a tenderness over the right groin; that he also found soreness on the left side of the spine near the shoulder; that the injuries to his testicle were permanent. and appellee would suffer discomfort in walking and standing; and that it was only a matter of time when the intestines would push outward and come through the opening. In the Richmond, Carothers, and McClain Cases, cited supra. It was held that the testimony as to negligence on the part of appellant was such as to authorize an instruction as to punitive damages; and it seems to us that there was sufficient evidence ot the serious character of the injuries received by plaintiff to have justified the verdict on the ground oi compensation alone. Judgment affirmed.

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