{
  "id": 2961657,
  "name": "Daniel B. Stewart, Appellee, v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, Appellant",
  "name_abbreviation": "Stewart v. Illinois Central Railroad",
  "decision_date": "1916-04-21",
  "docket_number": "",
  "first_page": "187",
  "last_page": "189",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "201 Ill. App. 187"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 285,
    "char_count": 4621,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.568,
    "sha256": "5f71c3de38e28e428819591ac1b1c7a1e3ad42dc3610a2383395945899676649",
    "simhash": "1:e374cb21931e3076",
    "word_count": 773
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T15:52:04.845486+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "Daniel B. Stewart, Appellee, v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, Appellant."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mr. Justice Graves\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\n3. Railroads, \u00a7 919 \u2014when burden of proof on railroad in action for negligence in causing fire. Where the plaintiff, in an action for damages caused by fire resulting from sparks escaping from the defendant\u2019s locomotive, has made out a prima facie case of negligence under Hurd\u2019s Rev. St. ch. 114, sec. 103 (J. & A. \u00b6 8891), the burden of proof to overcome such a case is on the defendant.\n4. Railroads, \u00a7 932*\u2014when evidence sufficient to sustain verdict in action for negligently causing fire. A verdict for the plaintiff in an action. for damages resulting from fire caused by sparks escaping from the defendant\u2019s locomotive, held justified by the evidence.\n5. Railroads, \u00a7 941*\u2014when instruction in action for negligence in causing fire not misleading. In an action for damages resulting from a fire caused by sparks escaping from the defendant\u2019s locomotive, an instruction held not open to the criticism that it was likely to be understood by the jury to mean that the defendant was required to disprove negligence by the preponderance of the evidence, in view of another instruction that the plaintiff, in order to recover, was required to prove, among other things, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the defendant was negligent and that the damage resulted therefrom.\n6. Damages, \u00a7 207*\u2014when instruction on not erroneous. The rule that an instruction is bad which advises the jury that it is their duty to assess damages, if they believe certain facts to be established by the evidence, applies only to cases where exemplary damages may be recovered and not to those in which compensatory damages only are sought.\n7. Appeal and error, \u00a7 1466*\u2014when admission of evidence harmless error. In an action for damages for the destruction of property by fire, a question as to what was the total fair cash value of all the property destroyed, held improper but harmless error, where it amounted simply to a request to the witness to add up items of damage previously testified to by him, and the Verdict was for an amount substantially less than such estimate.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mr. Justice Graves"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Charles L. Capen and De Mange, Gillespie & De Mange, for appellant; John G. Drennan, of counsel.",
      "Livingston & Bach and Barry & Morrissey, for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "Daniel B. Stewart, Appellee, v. Illinois Central Railroad Company, Appellant.\n(Not to be reported in full.)\nAppeal from the Circuit Court of McLean county; the Hon. Colostin D. Myers, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the April term, 1915.\nAffirmed.\nOpinion filed April 21, 1916.\nStatement of the Case.\nAction by Daniel B. Stewart, plaintiff, against Illinois Central Railroad Company, defendant, for damages resulting from a fire alleged to have been caused by sparks escaping from the defendant\u2019s locomotive. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.\nAbstract of the Decision.\n1. Railroads, \u00a7 919 \u2014What constitutes prima facie case of negligence in causing fire. In an action for damages resulting from a fire alleged to have been caused by sparks escaping from the defendant\u2019s locomotive, evidence held to justify a finding that the fire was so caused and, under Hurd\u2019s Rev. St. ch. 114, sec. 103 (J. & A. \u00b6 8891), to make a prima facie case of negligence justitying the submission of the case to the jury.\n2. Trial, \u00a7 153*\u2014when case should go to jury. When there is any evidence in the record from which, if it stood alone, the jury could, without acting unreasonably in the eye of the law, find that all the material averments in the declaration had been proven, the case should go to the jury.\nAt the request of the plaintiff the court instructed the jury as follows:\n\u201cThe Court instructs you that you should-not find a verdict for the plaintiff upon speculation, possibilities, or _ mere_ probabilities; the law requires that before plaintiff is entitled to a verdict the evidence must show by a preponderance,\n\u201cFirst: That the fire was in fact caused by a spark or sparks emitted from defendant\u2019s locomotive in question.\n\u201cSecond: That the defendant was negligent either in the equipment, repair, or management of the locomotive, and that such negligence, if any, caused it to emit sparks, and, that the sparks so emitted, started the fire which destroyed the property in question, and\n\u201cUnless the plaintiff has proven each of these requirements by the preponderance of the evidence, your verdict should be for the defendant.\u201d\nCharles L. Capen and De Mange, Gillespie & De Mange, for appellant; John G. Drennan, of counsel.\nLivingston & Bach and Barry & Morrissey, for appellee.\nSee Illinois Notes Digest, Vols. XI to XV, and Cumulative Quarterly, same topic and section number.\nSee Illinois Notes Digest, Vols. XI to XV, and Cumulative Quarterly, same topic and section number."
  },
  "file_name": "0187-01",
  "first_page_order": 229,
  "last_page_order": 231
}