Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Word

• Decision Date: 20 June 1912
• Citation: 149 Ky. 229,147 S.W. 949
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. WORD.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

147 S.W. 949

149 Ky. 229

ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. WORD.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 20, 1912

Appeal from Circuit Court, McCracken County.

Action by Will Word against the Illinois Central Railroad Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Wheeler & Hughes, of Paducah, for appellant.

Eaton &amp Boyd, of Paducah, for appellee.

LASSING J.

About April 5, 1911, Will Word purchased, in East St. Louis, Ill six horses and six mules, and delivered them to the Illinois Central Railroad Company for shipment to Paducah, Ky. via Brookport, Ill. The stock was received by the railroad company and transported over its lines to the point of destination, to wit, Paducah, Ky. where it arrived on April 7th. Upon examination, it was found that several of the animals were skinned, cut, and bruised, and one of the horses was so seriously injured that it died in some three or four days thereafter.

Conceiving that the injuries to the stock were the result of improper handling during the course of shipment, the owner instituted an action against the railroad company, in which he sought to recover damages in the sum of $455. The company denies that it had been guilty of any negligence whatever in transporting the animals. Upon this issue, the case was submitted to a jury, with the result that plaintiff recovered a verdict for $200, and the railroad company appeals, insisting that the injuries which the mules and horses sustained en route from East St. Louis to Paducah were due to some inherent vice in one or more of the animals, rather than to any negligence on the part of the company.

It appears that these horses and mules were loaded into a car on the afternoon of April 5th, and that, after being in the car some time, and before the train to which the car was connected had left the yards in East St. Louis, it was discovered that a mare was down and could not get up. The car was thereupon returned to the yards, and the stock unloaded and a pen, as it were, built in one end of the car, and this mare that had been found down on the previous afternoon was stalled off to herself; the other 11 being left loose in the car. She was skinned, and had a cut on her hip at that time. In fact, she had sustained some injuries before she was purchased by appellee, though he testified that they were of an inconsequential nature. After the stock had been loaded as above indicated, the car was transported over the lines of the appellant company to Paducah; and, from the evidence of all the trainmen who had it in charge from the time it left East St. Louis until it reached Paducah, the car was not subjected to any unusual treatment or rough handling. This evidence strongly supports the theory of the company that the injuries sustained by this live stock were the result of an inherent vice in some of the animals. On the other hand, there is testimony to the effect that when the car reached Paducah some of the slats were off, and there were evidences on the car that the legs of some of the animals had passed through these openings where the slats were off. The stall that had been built in one end of the car was down, and the whole interior of the car presented a generally wrecked appearance.

Appellee testified that the mare, which some of the witnesses for appellant say was vicious, and bit and kicked at the other stock, was a gentle and kindly disposed animal, although, of course, this impression was necessarily gained by him during the short time that he observed the mare while she was being exhibited for sale and her working qualities were being demonstrated to his satisfaction. Appellant's contention is that these animals had been brought into East St. Louis from different parts of the country, were all strange to each other, and that it was not surprising that more or less friction developed when they were thrown together for the first time. This conclusion is in entire harmony and accord with the theory of appellant that the damage to the stock results from the vicious, mean disposition of one of the animals; but appellee testified that before the stock was put into the car it was assembled in the pen at the stockyards together for some time, and that he observed no manifestation of any viciousness on the part of any of the animals, as described by witnesses for appellant. In this connection, it is pointed out as a most significant fact that in a memorandum made by the agent of appellant, who caused the car to be returned to the stockyards, and the stock unloaded, when it was found that one of the mares was down, no mention was made of the viciousness of any of the animals, nor was it stated in the memorandum that the pen was built to protect the remaining animals from the viciousness of the one put into the pen; but, on the contrary, the fair inference deducible from the language used in the memorandum is that the pen was built for the benefit and protection of the injured mare, which was found down in the car.

The sum and substance of all the evidence amounts to this: When this live stock was delivered by appellee to appellant in East St Louis,...