#### George C. Bandy, Appellee, v. Litchfield & Madison Railway Company, Appellant.

(Not to be reported in full.)

Abstract of the Decision.

1. Courts, § 149 * —when former decision governs. A judgment for a plaintiff in a personal injury action will be reversed where the declaration and evidence are substantially the same as in a similar action by a different party whose judgment was reversed. Schmidt v. Litchfield & Madison Ry. Co., 179 Ill. App. 533, followed.

2. Appeal and error, § 1491 * —when exclusion of evidence is harmless. Where in an action by a passenger against a railway company it is essential to prove that the motorman was actually guilty of the negligence charged, error in excluding evidence tending to show the carelessness and incompetency of the motorman is harmless where the weight of the evidence shows he was not negligent and such excluded evidence could not have affected the verdict.

Appeal from, the Circuit Court of Madison county; the Hon. William E. Hadley, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the March term, 1913.

Reversed and remanded.

Opinion filed October 9, 1913.

Statement of the Case.

Action by George C. Bandy against the Litchfield & Madison Railway Company, a corporation, to recover damages for injuries sustained from being thrown from a motor car. From a judgment for plaintiff for one thousand five hundred dollars, defendant appeals.

Warnock, Williamson & Burroughs, for appellant.

C. H. Burton, for appellee.

*

See Illinois Notes Digest, Vols. XI to XIV, same topic and section number.

Mr. Presiding Justice McBride

delivered the opinion of the court.