Ramsbottom v. Atl. Coastline R. Co

• Decision Date: 04 April 1905
• Citation: 138 N.C. 38,50 S.E. 448
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: RAMSBOTTOM et al. v. ATLANTIC COASTLINE R. CO.

138 N.C. 38

50 S.E. 448

RAMSBOTTOM et al.

v.ATLANTIC COASTLINE R. CO.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

April 4, 1905.

RAILROADS—INJURY TO LIVE STOCK—ACTION-NEGLIGENCE — BURDEN OF PROOF — PROPER CARE — PROXIMATE CAUSE — DEFINITIONS — QUESTIONS FOB JURY.

1. There was evidence that within six months prior to the commencement of the action plaintiff's horses got on the defendant's track at a point about a quarter of a mile from a trestle and about 100 yards ahead of an approaching train. The track was straight for at least a half mile back from the trestle, and at a point about 150 yards from the trestle a wagon road crossed the track. The horses ran along the track about 100 yards ahead of the train, passing the wagon road, and continuing along the track till they ran into the trestle where they were injured. When seen by the engineer, the horses were about a quarter of a mile from the trestle. The speed of the train was slackened to six miles an hour, and the train, being fully under control, followed along behind the horses at a distance of 100 yards until they were injured, and the train stopped at a distance of 100 feet from the trestle. There was some conflict of evidence as to the speed of the horses as they went along ahead of the train, and some conflict as to the character and condition of the road, tending to make it more or less probable that the horses would leave the track without stopping the train. Held, that under the facts, Code, § 2326, providing that when live stock shall be injured by the engines or cars running on any railroad it shall be prima facie evidence of negligence on the part of the company in an action for damages brought within six months after the cause of action accrues, had no application, and hence the burden of the issue as to negligence was on plaintiff.

[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see vol. 41, Cent. Dig. Railroads, §§ 1576, 1577.]

2. To establish actionable negligence, the question of contributory negligence being out of the case, the plaintiffs are required to show by the greater weight of the testimony that there was a failure to exercise proper care in the performance of a legal duty which the defendant owed to the plaintiffs under the circumstances in which they were placed, and that such negligent breach of duty was the proximate cause of the injury.

3. Proper care, the failure to exercise which constitutes negligence, is that degree of care which a prudent man should use under like circumstances and charged with like duty.

4. The proximate cause of an injury is one which produces the result in continuous sequence, and without which it would not occur, and one from which any man of ordinary prudence could foresee that such result was probable under all the facts as they existed.

5. In an action against a railroad for injury to plaintiff's horses in a trestle into which they ran in front of an approaching train, evidence examined, and held that whether defendant was negligent in not stopping the train, and whether the injury was one that any man of ordinary prudence and foresight might have expected, were questions for the jury.

Appeal from Superior Court, Columbus County; Brown, Judge.

Action by T. H. Ramsbottom and another against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. From a judgment for plaintiffs, defendant appeals. Reversed.

Junius Davis, for appellant.

Lyon & Lyon, for appellees.

HOKE, J. There was evidence to the effect that some time prior to the commencement of this action, and within six months, two horses owned by the plaintiffs got on the track of defendant company at a point about a quarter of a mile from a trestle, and 100 yards, or a little more, ahead of one of defendant's trains, which was approaching from the south. The track was straight for atleast a half mile back from the trestle, and at a point about 150 yards from the trestle a wagon road crossed the railroad track. The horses ran along the track about 100 yards ahead of the train, passing the wagon road...