Dean v. St. Paul Union Depot Co.

• Decision Date: 05 August 1889
• Citation: 43 N.W. 54,41 Minn. 360
• Parties: DEAN v ST. PAUL UNION DEPOT CO.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

41 Minn. 360

43 N.W. 54

DEANvST. PAUL UNION DEPOT CO.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Aug. 5, 1889.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

From the complaint herein, and a stipulation by consent considered with it, it appears that the defendant corporation is organized for the express purpose of furnishing depot and station-house accommodations at the city of St. Paul for the use of such railway corporations as enter into contract with it; that it leases a room in its depot building to a tenant, who therein carries on the business of storing for hire the parcels and light baggage of travelers; that plaintiff arrived at said depot by rail, and as a passenger, and proceeded to said room for the purpose of temporarily storing his valise, and was there willfully and maliciously assaulted and beaten by an employé of defendant's tenant. It is further charged that this employé was a man of savage and vicious propensities, who had frequently, during the six years of his employment there, attacked and beaten persons lawfully upon the premises, and that all of this was well known to the defendant corporation on the day of the attack upon the plaintiff. Held, that the complaint, in connection with the stipulation, states a good cause of action.

Appeal from district court, Ramsey county; BRILL, Judge.

Action by Charles D. Dean against the St. Paul Union Depot Company for damages for personal injuries.

Davis, Kellogg & Severance, for appellant.

John O'Brien, I. V. D. Heard, and Cole, Bramhall & Morris, for respondent.

COLLLINS, J.

The plaintiff appeals from an order sustaining defendant's demurrer to the complaint, on the ground that it failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. From said complaint, and a stipulation as to certain facts made by the parties, and by agreement considered as if the facts therein stated had been a part of the pleading demurred to, it appears that the defendant is a domestic corporation, organized for and engaged in the business of furnishing and conducting a Union depot and station-house in the city of St. Paul, in which several lines of railway deliver and receive passengers by virtue of their contracts with defendant; that on May 17, 1888, plaintiff reached said depot as a passenger upon one of the said roads, and, with the intention of pursuing his journey to a point beyond by another road, entered the station-house, approached the parcel room therein, leased by defendant to a tenant who operated and controlled it, for the purpose of checking his valise, and was there maliciously attacked and beaten by the man in charge, who was in fact the employé of defendant's tenant. The complaint further alleges that this, employé was of vicious temper, of bad character, and had frequently, in a willful and malicious manner, assaulted and beaten people lawfully upon the premises during the six years ...