Brooks v. Old Colony R. Co.
| Decision Date | 17 March 1897 |
| Citation | 168 Mass. 164,46 N.E. 566 |
| Parties | BROOKS v. OLD COLONY R. CO. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Charles W. Bartlett and Henry F. Naphen, for plaintiff.
Benton & Choate, for defendant.
The plaintiff was standing upon the platform of the defendant's railroad station, at the Roxbury crossing waiting to take a train for which she had a ticket. It is not in controversy that she is to be regarded as a passenger. A much-traveled public street (Tremont street) crossed the railroad at grade close by the station. Gates were down on each side of the track, as the train had just come in. A runaway horse came along the street, broke through the first gate, stopped a little at the second, turned towards the station, passed between the locomotive engine and a telegraph post (a space not over four feet in width), and came upon the platform, and threw down and injured the plaintiff. The question is whether, on the evidence, the plaintiff was entitled to go to the jury upon the defendant's negligence.
There is no doubt of the duty of a railroad company to use all such means and precautions as are reasonably practicable for the protection and safety of its passengers, not only from the negligence or misconduct of its own agents and servants, but also of other passengers, and of other persons who are not passengers. This duty is stated in Simmons v. Steamboat Co., 97 Mass. 361, to require "the utmost care which is consistent with the nature and extent of the business in which he [the carrier of passengers] is engaged, *** in making such reasonable arrangements as a prudent man would make to guard against all dangers, from whatever source arising, which may naturally, and according to the usual course of things, be expected to occur." Page 368. And, again, the defendants "were not, indeed responsible for the negligent or wrongful acts of the passengers to the same extent as for those of their own officers and crew; but they had the power to make reasonable regulations as to the places which passengers might occupy and as to their conduct while on board; and they were bound to use the utmost skill and care of prudent men in taking precautions to prevent any passenger from being injured by the ignorant, negligent, or reckless acts of other passengers." Page 369.
The test of the defendant's responsibility for this accident is whether the defendant was reasonably bound to anticipate that such a thing might happen, and to take some special precautions against it. The accident arose from a cause wholly outside of the operations of the defendant. The plaintiff was not in a car, but on the platform. The horse was not in the defendant's care or use, and was not led to run away by anything done by the defendant. If the horse had run upon the sidewalk of Tremont street, and hurt persons traveling thereon, nobody would have thought of seeking to hold the city responsible. The rule requiring peculiar care of carriers of passengers is to be applied with reference to the circumstances. When passengers are on board a steamboat or a railroad car, of which the carrier has the exclusive management and control, the duty of the carrier has reference to that state of things. When passengers are on a wharf or landing place, or on the platform of a railroad station which is usually an open and almost a public place, to which others than passengers and servants of the carrier are accustomed to have free access, the duty of the carrier has reference to that state of things. It is well known that it is not the custom to fence in railroad platforms for passengers at way stations. All through the commonwealth they are often so arranged as to allow horses with carriages or wagons to come close up to them. It is made easy for passengers and others to come upon or to leave these platforms. Many persons who are not passengers are often found upon them,--hackmen, drivers of private carriages, expressmen, teamsters, and many others. Indeed, this state of things is partly recognized by the statute requiring railroad companies to give equal facilities for the use of their depots and grounds. Pub.St. c. 112, § 188. There is always a possibility that horses, as well as other animals, may come upon the platforms; but accidents from this cause are rare. Looking at the matter in the light of experience, of custom, and of statutory requirements, merely arranging a platform of a station in...
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