Quirouet v. Alabama G.S.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 July 1900
• Citation: 36 S.E. 599,111 Ga. 315
• Parties: QUIROUET v. ALABAMA G. S. R. CO.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

36 S.E. 599

111 Ga. 315

QUIROUET v. ALABAMA G. S. R. CO.

Supreme Court of Georgia

July 12, 1900

Syllabus by the Court.

1. An employé of a railroad company, who was injured in undertaking to mount a rapidly moving flat car by placing his foot upon the lid of the journal box, and seizing a standard which had been inserted in an opening in the side of the car in order to prevent the freight thereon from falling off, was not either under the general rules of law or any Alabama statute entitled to a recovery on the ground that the standard slipped in the socket and caused him to fall, when there was no testimony tending to show that the standard was placed on the car as a means of mounting the same, but, on the contrary, positive testimony that it was not placed there or intended to be used for that purpose.

2. When an employé has his choice of two ways in which to perform a duty, the one safe, though inconvenient, and the other dangerous, he is bound to select the safe method; and if instead of so doing, he elects to pursue the dangerous way, and is, in consequence, injured, he is guilty of such negligence as will bar an action for damages against the master. The principle here announced is recognized law in the state of Alabama.

3. If there was, in the present case, any evidence tending to show that the plaintiff acted in an emergency, it was one of his own making, and the defendant company could not be held responsible on the theory that it had by its negligence placed him in such a position as to relieve him of the duty of exercising ordinary care for his own safety.

4. The evidence demanded a verdict for the defendant, and there was no error in directing the jury to find accordingly.

Error from city court of Atlanta; A. E. Calhoun, Judge.

Action by A. J. Quirouet against the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

Westmoreland Bros., for plaintiff in error.

Dorsey, Brewster & Howell and A. Heymans, for defendant in error.

COBB J.

Quirouet brought suit in the city court of Atlanta against the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company, a corporation chartered under the laws of the state of Alabama, for damages for personal injuries alleged to have been brought about by the negligence of the defendant. At the trial the court directed a verdict for the defendant, and the plaintiff excepted.

The case, taken in its most favorable light for the plaintiff will appear from the following summary of the evidence: The plaintiff testified that he was employed by the defendant as a flagman on one of its freight trains, and that, on the occasion on which he was injured, the train had entered a side track to let a passenger train pass. After the latter train had gone by, the freight train backed out from the side track onto the main line. "He had performed all he was required to do when he turned the switch to let the train back out." The train had a caboose attached, with steps to it. The plaintiff sought to mount the fourth car from the caboose. The brakes on this car, which the plaintiff had himself "put on," were causing the wheels to slide and smoke, and his purpose in mounting the car was to release the brakes. When brakes are on so tight as to cause the wheels to slide, there is danger of the wheels bursting, and thus causing the train to be wrecked. The journal box upon which he stepped was sometimes called the "grease box." The wheels of the car are fastened to the axle, and the wheel and the axle both turn. The axle passes through the journal box, which has a lid on it, placed somewhat like the roof of a house,--a little slanting. Grease and waste are put in the journal box to keep it from getting warm. There was no hand hold on the car, or other means provided for mounting this car. The train was running at the rate of five or six miles an hour. When the plaintiff attempted to mount the car, it was necessary for him to take hold of a large standard, which was on the car for the purpose of preventing the pipes with which the car was loaded from rolling off, and place his foot upon the journal box, and in this way mount. The standard was so large that he could not grasp it, but was required to throw his hand and wrist around it, and as he did so, and placed his foot upon the journal box, and threw his weight on the standard, it turned with him, threw him down, and threw his foot off the journal box under the wheels of the car, which passed over his ankle, foot, and leg, and caused him to sustain painful and serious injuries. The socket in which the standard worked was square, and...