Mize v. Southern Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 23 September 1914
• Docket Number: 5509.
• Citation: 82 S.E. 925,15 Ga.App. 265
• Parties: MIZE v. SOUTHERN RY. CO. ET AL.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

82 S.E. 925

15 Ga.App. 265

MIZE v. SOUTHERN RY. CO. ET AL.

No. 5509.

Court of Appeals of Georgia

September 23, 1914

Syllabus by the Court.

It is the duty of a railway company to provide at its stations sufficient and reasonably safe means to enable passengers to alight from cars without danger, and to stop its cars at a place where prudent persons may safely descend therefrom. Where a train of a railway company passes a station, or the usual place for passengers to alight, or stops short thereof and the carrier requires a passenger to alight without assistance, in an unusual and unsafe place, it will be liable for any injury resulting therefrom. 2 Moore on Carriers (2d Ed.) pp. 1231-1233, and authorities there cited.

Where the relation of carrier and passenger is once established, it continues until the passenger is safely deposited at his point of destination, unless it be terminated by the voluntary act of the passenger, or by the carrier under circumstances which would justify such a course. Brunswick & Western R. Co. v. Moore, 101 Ga. 684 (1), 28 S.E. 1000. "It is the duty of a railway company to carry its passengers safely to their destination, stop a sufficient length of time to allow them to leave the train in safety, and provide a suitable place for their so doing." Daniels v. W. & A. Railroad Co., 96 Ga 786 (1), 22 S.E. 956. In fact, the duty of discharging a passenger rests upon the carrier that undertakes to convey him to an agreed destination. Southern Railway Co. v Reeves, 116 Ga. 743 (4), 42 S.E. 1015; Georgia Railroad Co. v. Rives, 137 Ga. 376 (1), 73 S.E. 645, 38 L.R.A. (N. S.) 564; McBride v. Georgia Railway & Electric Co., 125 Ga. 515, 54 S.E. 674; Atlanta Railroad Co v. Holcombe, 88 Ga. 9, 13 S.E. 751.

It is ordinarily no part of the duty of the employés of a railway company in charge of a passenger train to assist passengers to alight therefrom, though this duty on their part may arise when the circumstances are such as to suggest to them the necessity of assistance. Southern Railway Co. v. Reeves, supra; Georgia Railroad Co. v. Rives, supra.

Where sleeping cars not owned by the common carrier form a part of a train, and are presumably attached thereto in the interest of the railroad company, the railroad company is still bound by its ordinary obligations and liabilities as a common carrier of passengers to those who make use of the accommodations afforded by such sleeping cars. In all matters relating to the safety of the passengers, the conductor, the porter, and other servants of such cars are the servants of the company of whose train the cars are for the time being a part. Dwinelle v. New York Cent., etc., R. Co., 120 N.Y. 117, 24 N.E. 319, 8 L.R.A. 224, 17 Am.St.Rep. 611; Thorpe v. New York Cent., etc., R. Co., 76 N.Y. 402, 32 Am.Rep. 325; Pennsylvania Co. v. Roy, 102 U.S. 451, 26 L.Ed. 141; Evansville, etc., R. Co. v. Athon, 6 Ind. App. 295, 33 N.E. 469, 51 Am.St.Rep. 303; Williams v. Pullman Palace Car Co., 40 La. Ann. 417, 4 So. 85, 8 Am.St.Rep. 538; Kinsley v. Lake Shore, etc., R. Co., 125 Mass. 54, 28 Am.Rep. 200; Wilson v. Baltimore, etc., R. Co., 32 Mo.App. 682; Bevis v. Baltimore, etc., R. Co., 26 Mo.App. 19; Hillis v. Chicago, etc., R. Co., 72 Iowa 228, 33 N.W. 643; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Ray, 101 Tenn. 1, 46 S.W. 554.

Where a passenger of the Southern...