Southern Ry. Co v. Strickland
| Decision Date | 11 June 1908 |
| Citation | 61 S.E. 826,130 Ga. 779 |
| Parties | SOUTHERN RY. CO. v. STRICKLAND. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Carriers—Injury to Passengers—Contributory Negligence.
This was a suit by a passenger against a railroad company for damages resulting from injuries received by the passenger from being thrown from the platform of the car. The uncontradicted evidence shows that when the train was about a mile from a regular station where cars were accustomed to stop, and which was the destination of the plaintiff, the porter came into the car where the plaintiff was seated, and, announcing the name of the station, called, "All off!" This was at night, and the train was running at a high rate of speed, estimated at from 30 to 45 miles per hour. After the announcement of the station, the plaintiff immediately arose from his seat and walked out on the platform of the car, in order to be ready to alight as soon as the train stopped. After he got out upon the platform he was thrown therefrom by the motion of the car and injured. There had been no perceptible slackening of the speed of the train. The plaintiff was 27 years of age and had never ridden on a railroad train before. Held, that under the rulings in Blitch v. Cen. Railroad, 76 Ga. 333, and Hicks v. Ga. So. & Fla. Ry. Co., 108 Ga. 304, 32 S. E. 880, the plaintiff was not entitled to recover.
[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 9, Carriers, §§ 1375-1379, 1401.]
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Error from Superior Court, Douglas County; J. J. Kimsey, Judge.
Action by E. P. Strickland against the Southern Railway Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed.
Shumate, Maddox & McCamy, for plaintiff in error.
J. D. Kilpatrick and J. S. James, for defendant in error.
From the uncontradicted evidence it appeared that the plaintiff was a passenger on the defendant's train, and that when about a mile from Winston, a regular station and the place of the plaintiff's destination, the porter came in the car where the plaintiff was seated and called out, This was at night, and the train was running at a high rate of speed at the time, estimated at from 30 to 45 miles per hour. After the announcement of the station, the plaintiff immediately arose from his seat and walked out on the platform of the car, in order to be ready to alight as soon as the car stopped. After he got out upon the platform he was thrown therefrom by the motion of the car and injured. There had been no perceptible slackening of the speed of the train. The plaintiff was 27 years of age and had never ridden on a railroad train before. The plaintiff recovered a verdict for $100, and the court refused to grant a new trial.
It was contended by the defendant that the plaintiff could not recover, because it appeared from the undisputed evidence that by the exercise of ordinary care for his own safety he could have avoided the consequences of any negligence attributable to the defendant. The announcement of the station by the porter was not an invitation to the plaintiff to leave his seat and put himself in a place of danger. Walker v. Ga. Ry. & Electric Co., 122 Ga. 368, 50 S. E. 121; Hicks v. Ga. So. & Fla. Ry. Co., 108 Ga. 304, 32 S. E. 880. There had been no slackening of speed of the train, so as to indicate that it was about to come to a stop. It was dark, and the train was running at a high rate of speed. There was no evidence of any custom which justified the plaintiff in going out upon the platform to await the approach of the train to his station, nor was there any necessity for his going. The injury occurred at a place about one mile from the station. Under these circumstances the case falls clearly under the rule announced in Blitch v. Cen. Railroad, 76 Ga. 333, and there can be no recovery....
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