Arkansas Southern Ry. Co. v. Loughridge
| Decision Date | 14 May 1898 |
| Citation | 45 S.W. 907 |
| Parties | ARKANSAS SOUTHERN RY. CO. v. LOUGHRIDGE. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, Union county; Charles W. Smith, Judge.
Action by J. A. Loughridge against the Arkansas Southern Railway Company to recover for professional services rendered as surgeon. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Jesse B. Moore, for appellant. W. D. Jamison and Williams & Bradshaw, for appellee.
This is a suit, tried in the Union circuit court, to recover the value of services rendered by the appellee as physician and surgeon in attending upon a brakeman of appellant company, who had fallen from the cars near Cargile, in Union county, and had one leg crushed, and was otherwise hurt and bruised. Defendant's train proceeding northward had approached near Cargile, one of its stations, when Bascom Williams, a brakeman employed in running the train, was thrown from the cars, and was wounded as stated. The appellee, a regular practicing physician, residing in Eldorado, a few miles north of Cargile, happened to be a passenger on the train at the time. When the accident occurred, the train stopped, and the conductor, Walsh, hurried to the scene of the accident to ascertain what was the matter, having heard that a man was hurt, and, in passing through the passenger coach, requested appellee (as appellee states) to go with him, and look after the wounded man, not knowing, as we infer, at the time, who had been hurt, nor the nature of his hurt; and the appellee did so. The conductor denies having made the request of appellee to go and look after the wounded man, but says he went of his own accord. The other evidence is somewhat conflicting as to this, and it was a question for the jury, and they determined it in favor of plaintiff. Appellee found the said Bascom Williams with one leg crushed, and otherwise wounded and bruised, and bleeding profusely. He soon got the hemorrhage under control, and sent for Dr. Kelly, the company's regularly employed physician. It became necessary for appellee to go at once to his office, in Eldorado, to procure the necessary instruments and appliances and professional assistance, and return to amputate the broken limb. Cargile, who seems to have been nothing more than a stockholder in the railroad company, perhaps a director at most, being informed of appellee's desire and intention to proceed to Eldorado for the purposes stated, immediately sent him forward on the engine; and at Eldorado the appellee engaged the services of Dr. W. J. Pinson, another regular practicing physician of that place, and they returned to the scene of the accident and immediately amputated the broken limb; but finding the bruises extending higher than at first appeared, for want of sound skin to make the necessary flap, a second amputation was made. The patient died the following day. Some doubt seems to have been entertained as to whether the company was liable for the services thus rendered, and considerable negotiation seems to have been had on the subject; C. C. Henderson, the general manager of the company, at one time promising to assist in paying the bill to the extent of $50, not as a liability however, but as a voluntary contribution, as we infer.
The main question, as may be readily seen, is whether or not the railroad company is responsible in any case for the contracts of an employé, not made in the line of his employment, and he having no express authority to make them, and, if so, under what state of circumstances this liability attaches to it. This is a mooted question, but the weight of authority seems to sustain the doctrine that, in case of an emergency, the employment (of a physician, for instance) by the highest railroad official present is the act of the company, and it will be liable for the value of the services rendered to one, in the employ of the company, injured by the running of its trains. I...
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