[DOWNLOAD] "Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co. v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Co." by United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details

Title: Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Co. v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Co.
Author : United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Release Date : January 20, 1977
Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
Pages : * pages
Size : 76 KB

Description

BAUER, Circuit Judge. In this diversity action, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C & O) seeks indemnity from the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (ICG) for a judgment paid by the C & O to an ICG employee, plus costs and attorney's fees incurred in defending the suit brought by the ICG employee against both parties to this action. The district court granted the ICG's motion for summary judgment on the ground that the governing Illinois law did not permit an ""actively"" negligent tortfeasor to obtain indemnity from a joint tortfeasor, even if the latter's negligence was also ""active."" As the jury verdict rendered against the C & O in the prior suit brought by the ICG employee conclusively established that the C & O's negligence had been ""active"" rather than ""passive"" in character, the district court ruled that the ICG was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. The C & O appeals on the ground that (1) a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether its negligence as a joint tortfeasor was ""active"" or ""passive""; and (2) that, in any event, it is entitled to indemnity from the ICG on the theory that the defendant was a joint master of the common servant whose negligence was the proximate cause of the injury suffered by the ICG employee. We affirm the district court's judgment for the reasons noted below.