Galloway v. The Western

• Decision Date: 31 July 1876
• Citation: 57 Ga. 513
• Parties: Samuel H. Galloway, plaintiff in error. v. The Western and Atlantic Railroad Company, defendant in error.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

57 Ga. 513

Samuel H. Galloway, plaintiff in error. v. The Western and Atlantic Railroad Company, defendant in error.

Supreme Court of the State of Georgia

(Atlanta. July Term, 1876.)

Corporations. Railroads. Contracts. Charge of Courts. Negligence. Estoppel Before Judge Hopkins. Fulton Superior Court. October Term, 1875.

Reported in the decision.

Collier & Collier; P. L. Mynatt, for plaintiff in error.

Julius L. Brown, for defendant.

WARNER, Chief Justice.

The plaintiff brought his action against the defendant to recover damages for injuries alleged to have been sustained by him as an employee of defendant, by reason of the negligent and unskillful conduct of the defendant's agent in running a certain train of defendant, conveyed by a steam locomotive, upon which the plaintiff was being conveyed in the *performance of his duty as such employee, and without fault on his part. To the plaintiff's action the defendant pleaded the general issue of not guilty, and a special contract of the plaintiff by which he agreed to assume all risks incident to his employment. The defendant also pleaded that the alledged injury complained of was not done upon its road but upon the Nickajack Railroad, and therefore the defendant was not liable therefor. The defendant also pleaded a settlement made with the plaintiff, in the nature of an accord and satis-faction, for the injury complained of. On the trial of the case, the jury, under the charge of the court, found a verdict in favor of the defendant. The plaintiff made a motion for a new trial on the several grounds therein set forth, which was overruled by the court, and the plaintiff excepted.

1. The plaintiff's action is brought against the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company, a corporation in said county of Fulton, alleging that that corporation has damaged him $5,000 00.

By the act of 1870, the Western and Atlantic Railroad is liable to be sued as a corporation in any county through which the road runs, for any cause of action to which it may become liable after the execution of the lease thereof. Although it is not alleged in what county through which the road runs, the injury complained of was done by the defendant to the plaintiff, it may be fairly inferred from the plaintiff's declaration, that he sues for an injury done to him by the defendant on its road, inasmuch as he alleges that the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company, a corporation of said county of Fulton, has damaged him $5,000 00. But be that as it may, the defendant, as a corporation, was not liable to be sued by the plaintiff for the cause of action for which he complains, unless the injury was done him by the defendant on its road in some one of the counties through which its road runs. The defendant is liable for injuries done to co-employees on its road by the negligent conduct of its agents, and that is the legal effect of the plaintiff's suit. It is true that the plaintiff does not allege, in express terms, in his declaration, that the injury *complained of was done on the defendant's road, but such is its legal effect, in view of the powers and liabilities of the Western and Atlantic Railroad Company...