Shields v. New York Cent. & H.R.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 April 1892
• Parties: SHIELDS v. NEW YORK CENT. & H. R. R. CO.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

133 N.Y. 557

30 N.E. 596

SHIELDS

v.NEW YORK CENT. & H. R. R. CO.

Court of Appeals of New York.

April 12, 1892.

Appeal from supreme court, general term, second department.

Action by Peter Shields, as sole executor of the last will, etc., of James Murphy, deceased, against the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Company. From a judgment of the general term affirming a judgment denying defendant's motion for a new trial, and entering judgment for plaintiff on a verdict, defendant appeals. Reversed.

Robert F. Wilkinson, for appellant.

Hackett & Williams, for respondent.

EARL, C. J.

James Murphy, the plaintiff's testator, had been in the employment of the defendant for many years, in its depot yard at Poughkeepsie. His general duties were those of brakeman and switchman in the management of the coal-cars on and about the coal-shute and in the yard at that place. He and others were engaged in gathering up the coal under the shute which fell upon the ground while engines were taking coal. The coal thus falling upon the ground was loaded upon cars, and taken upon the shute and dumped. There was a trap in the bottom of each car to which a chain was attached, which, by means of a crank, could be wound up, and then hold the trap in its place; and, when a car was to be emptied of coal, this crank was turned, and the trap let down, and the coal thus discharged. In January, 1889, the deceased was engaged in the discharge of his duties in switching two coal-cars, and, while standing on the top of a car loaded with coal, the chain broke, and let down the trap, and he passed through with the coal, and was so injured that he died a few months thereafter, and this action was brought to recover damages on account of his death. It appeared that about two weeks before the accident one of the links in the chain was broken, and the chain was mended by employes of the defendant engaged in and about the same business with the deceased, by means of wires wound around the two links where the chain broke, and thus fastening them together, and in that condition the car was subsequently used. About two days before the accident it was discovered that the trap could not be drawn up flush with the bottom of the car, and thus the coal would drop out, and, then the employes of the defendant, in the presence of the deceased, put boards over the trap to prevent the coal from running out, and thus the car was being used at the time of the accident. No one saw the deceased at the precise time of the accident, and it is only an inference that he went upon the top of the car in the discharge of his duties at the time the chain gave way and he fell through. It is claimed on the part of the plaintiff that the chain was imperfectly repaired by the wire wound around the links, and that because of its imperfect condition it gave way, causing the testator's death; and the defendant was held liable for a breach...