{
  "id": 5295177,
  "name": "James McGrath v. Chicago & Alton R. R. Co.",
  "name_abbreviation": "McGrath v. Chicago & Alton R. R.",
  "decision_date": "1900-12-07",
  "docket_number": "",
  "first_page": "659",
  "last_page": "660",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "95 Ill. App. 659"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.",
    "id": 8837,
    "name": "Illinois Appellate Court"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 29,
    "name_long": "Illinois",
    "name": "Ill."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 181,
    "char_count": 2441,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.503,
    "pagerank": {
      "raw": 7.317852702137001e-08,
      "percentile": 0.4379319025935489
    },
    "sha256": "58144fa5fe84857c1e378012e29117e6057e6c598e384504767a1b142b652558",
    "simhash": "1:59d20de4d0cda66e",
    "word_count": 422
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T20:45:04.207129+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "James McGrath v. Chicago & Alton R. R. Co."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Mb. Presiding Justice Harker\ndelivered the opinion of the court.\nAppellant\u2019s servant was engaged loading manure into a wagon to which a team of horses was attached, in close proximity to a barbed wire fence which separated appellant\u2019s corn field from appellee\u2019s right of way. The horses became frightened at some noise' in the corn field and, in running from it, one of them became entangled in a loose wire of the fence and was badly injured. In a suit to recover damages against the railroad company on the ground of negligence in allowing the fence to get out of repair and the wire to remain detached whereby the horse was injured, the court directed a verdict for the defendant.\nThe trial court committed no error in giving the peremptory instruction. It was negligence in appellant\u2019s servant to leave the horses unhitched \u25a0 with their heads toward a barbed wire fence eight or ten feet away. Common prudence would have suggested to any one that the horses were in danger of becoming frightened either at approaching trains or at a noise in the corn field. The proximate cause of the injury was not the loose wire but the fright and running of the horses, and the horses were enabled to run by reason of the negligence of the servant.\nWhether or not a certain act charged against the defendant is the proximate cause of the injury complained of is always a question of faqt for the jury when the evidence is conflicting; but where there is no dispute as to the facts and the evidence is insufficient to sustain a finding that the act was the proximate cause of the injury, there remains no question for the jury\u2019s decision and the court is justified in taking the case from them by a peremptory instruction.\nJudgment affirmed.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Mb. Presiding Justice Harker"
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "Timothy MoG-rath, attorney for appellant.",
      "Patton, Hamilton & Patton, attorneys for appellee."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "James McGrath v. Chicago & Alton R. R. Co.\n1. Practice \u2014 Directing Verdict for Defendant. \u2014 Where there is no dispute as to the facts of a case, and the evidence is insufficient to sustain a finding that the act complained of was the proximate cause of the injury, there is no question for the jury\u2019s decision and the court is justified in directing a verdict for the defendant.\nTrespass on the Case. \u2014 Appeal from the Circuit Court of Sangamon County; the Hon. James A. Creighton, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the May term, 1900.\nAffirmed.\nOpinion filed December 7, 1900.\nRehearing denied June 4, 1901.\nTimothy MoG-rath, attorney for appellant.\nPatton, Hamilton & Patton, attorneys for appellee."
  },
  "file_name": "0659-01",
  "first_page_order": 683,
  "last_page_order": 684
}