Atlantic City Railroad Company v. Lewis Parker

Citation61 L.Ed. 150,242 U.S. 56,37 S.Ct. 69
Decision Date04 December 1916
Docket NumberNo. 111,111
PartiesATLANTIC CITY RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err. v. LEWIS S. H. PARKER
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Messrs. Thomas E. French, Samuel H. Richards, and Charles Heebner for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 57 intentionally omitted] Mr. David O. Watkins for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an action brought by the defendant in error to recover for the loss of an arm crushed while he was coupling a tender to a car. There is no dispute that the case is governed by the acts of Congress—the Safety Appliance Act of March 2, 1893, chap. 196, §§ 2, 8, 27 Stat. at L. 531, Comp. Stat. 1913, §§ 8606, 8612 and the Employers' Liability Act of April 22, 1908, chap. 149, §§ 3, 4, 35 Stat. at L. 65, Comp. Stat. 1913, §§ 8659, 8660. The facts material here are few. The engine had backed for the purpose of coupling with the car and had failed to couple automatically by impact. Thereupon the plaintiff, noticing that the drawhead was not in line with the one on the engine, put in his arm for the purpose of straightening it and thus making the coupling possible, and was caught. An exception was taken to the refusal of a ruling that no negligence was shown on the part of the railroad company, but the court of errors and appeals affirmed the judgment of the court below. 87 N. J. L. 148, 93 Atl. 574.

If there was evidence that the railroad failed to furnish such 'couplers coupling automatically by impact' as the statute requires (Johnson v. Southern P. Co. 196 U. S. 1, 18, 19, 49 L. ed. 363, 369, 370, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 158, 17 Am. Neg. Rep. 412), nothing else needs to be considered. We are of opinion that there was enough evidence to go to the jury upon that point. No doubt there are arguments that the jury should have decided the other way. Some lateral play must be allowed to drawheads, and, further, the car was on a curve, which, of course, would tend to throw the coupler out of line. But the jury were warranted in finding that the curve was so slight as not to affect the case, and in regarding the track as, for this purpose, a straight line. If couplers failed to couple automatically upon a straight track, it at least may be said that a jury would be werranted in finding that a lateral play so great as to prevent coupling was not needed, and that, in the absence of any explanation believed by them, the failure indicated that the...

To continue reading

Request your trial
84 cases
  • State v. Ellis
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Connecticut
    • September 10, 1985
    ......Lewis, 176 Conn. 270, 272, 407 A.2d 955 (1978); State ......
  • Ferguson v. Cormack Lines
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • February 25, 1957
    ...241 U.S. 497, 36 S.Ct. 683, 60 L.Ed. 1125; affirmance of judgment for plaintiff affirmed. 1916 Term. Atlantic City R. Co. v. Parker, 242 U.S. 56, 37 S.Ct. 69, 61 L.Ed. 150; affirmance of judgment for plaintiff affirmed. Baltimore & O.R. Co. v. Whitacre, 242 U.S. 169, 37 S.Ct. 33, 61 L.Ed. 2......
  • Cox v. State, 1 Div. 94
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • March 15, 1991
    ......State, 107 Ala. 146, 18 So. 232 (1895); City of Birmingham v. Brown, 13 Ala.App. 654, 69 So. ......
  • McAllister v. Terminal Railway Co., 27144.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
    • March 5, 1930
    ...States v. Southern Pac. Co., 154 Fed. 897.] Failure of a coupler to work at any time sustains a charge of negligence. [Atlantic City Railroad Co. v. Parker, 242 U.S. 56; Chicago etc. Railroad Co. v. Brown, 229 U.S. 317; Chicago, etc. Railroad Co. v. United States, 220 U.S. 559; St. Louis et......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT