Fuller v. Illinois Central R.R.

An elderly man driving a one-horse wagon crossed railroad tracks without stopping or looking for trains, and an Illinois Central Railroad (defendant) train, running a half hour late at an unusually fast 40 miles per hour, struck and killed him. The train operator saw the man in plain view on the tracks from 660 feet away, and experts testified the train could have stopped within 200 feet at that speed, yet the operator neither braked nor slowed, giving only a single whistle blast about 20 seconds before impact. Fuller (plaintiff), representing the decedent's estate, sued for negligence; the Railroad argued the decedent's own failure to look out for the train was contributory negligence barring recovery. The trial court ruled for the Railroad.