St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Henson

• Decision Date: 23 November 1895
• Citation: 32 S.W. 1079,61 Ark. 302
• Parties: ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY v. HENSON
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

32 S.W. 1079

61 Ark. 302

ST. LOUIS SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY v. HENSON

Supreme Court of Arkansas

November 23, 1895

Appeal from Craighead Circuit Court, Jonesboro, District JAMES E RIDDICK, Judge.

Judgment affirmed and cause reversed and remanded.

Sam H West and J. C. Hawthorne for appellant.

1. Appellant was not a bailee, nor a carrier of the property. 2 Kent, 558. Appellant could only be held for a willful destruction. 17 Mass. 479. But the loss was the result of the negligence of appellee's fellow servants, for which appellant is not liable. 46 Ark. 555; 51 id. 467; 10 S.W 529. Nor was appellant liable for articles other than those necessary to be used in boarding cars, such as jewelry, merchandise, etc. 29 Minn. 160; 73 Ill. 348; 23 Am. St. 126. The verdict, as to the items of ring, gun, sewing machine, curtains, watches, and personal expenses, was excessive. 118 Mass. 275. The car was under plaintiff's control, and he was guilty of contributory negligence in permitting his fellow servants to violate the known rules of the company. 7 Hill, 47; 25 Wend. 459.

2. On the cross appeal, contend that the engineer and conductor were fellow servants of the plaintiff. 39 Ark. 17; 42 id, 417; 44 id. 527; 45 id. 319; 46 id. 388; Ib. 555; 51 id. 468; 54 id. 289; 58 id. 206; Ib. 217; 18 S.W. 219; 45 Mass. 49; 84 N.Y. 77; 81 id. 516; Whittaker, Smith, Neg. 139, and note; McKinney on Fellow Servants, sec. 18; 6 Cush. 75; 3 id. 270.

E. F. Brown for appellee.

Appellee was not a fellow servant with the conductor and engineer, and the question whether the conductor and engineer were not guilty of gross negligence were questions which should have been submitted to the jury. 84 N.Y. 77; McKinney on Fellow Servants, 310, 46 Ark. 477; 75 Mo. 653; 24 Oh. St. 654; 4 Cal. 30; 11 A. & E. R. Cases, 421; 4 Metc. 49; 45 Ill. 179; 6 A. & E. R. Cases, 149; 5 Ind. 339; 60 Ill. 171; 93 id. 302; 83 Ky. 129.

WOOD, J. BUNN, C. J. and RIDDICK, J., did not participate, being disqualified.

OPINION

WOOD, J.

The plaintiff seeks to recover for injuries to person and for loss of property which he says were caused by defendant's negligence. Defendant admitted the negligence, but says it was the negligence of fellow servants; and, furthermore, as to the loss of property, that defendant was in no sense plaintiff's bailee, and in no sense liable.

The plaintiff was foreman of a bridge and building gang, whose business was to repair bridges, culverts and trestles. As a part of the necessary and customary equipment for such work, plaintiff was furnished with boarding cars, in which he lived, and boarded the crew of men working under him. These cars, upon the order of the superintendent of bridge and building, were moved from place to place on defendant's road, wherever the occasion demanded.

Plaintiff and his property, the necessary appointments of a boarding car, and the men under him, were carried by the company to places of work without charge to plaintiff. The rules of the company required boarding cars, when moving, to be attached to the caboose. In this instance they were next to the engine. But the plaintiff had no control over the placing of cars. The conductor performed that duty. A list of the property alleged to have been destroyed is attached to the complaint, and marked "Exhibit A." On this list is a sewing machine, valued at forty-five dollars, two pairs of lace curtains and poles, valued at six dollars, one diamond ring, valued at one hundred and ten dollars, one shot gun, valued at fourteen dollars. As a part of the same exhibit was also an account for personal expenses, amounting to eleven dollars and eighty-five cents, and a charge "for repairs on two watches, eighteen dollars." The value of the articles listed, and the account for expenses and repairs, were shown to be as stated. The total amount of damages claimed was six hundred and six dollars and eighty-five cents.

Through the negligence of an engineer, one of defendant's trains collided with the train carrying plaintiff and his property, on a bridge over Crooked Bayou. Plaintiff's car was thrown into the bayou, and he sustained severe personal injuries, besides the loss of property above mentioned. The verdict was for six hundred and six dollars and twenty-four cents, damages for loss of property. Judgment was entered accordingly. Both parties have appealed.

The court instructed the jury as follows: "(1). The jury are instructed that, under the facts in the case, which are not disputed, the plaintiff was a fellow servant with the engineers and other employees of the defendant company in charge of the colliding trains, and he cannot recover for the personal injuries sustained through the negligence of such employees, and the jury will allow him nothing for such injuries. (2). Although the plaintiff cannot recover for his personal injuries, yet, if he was the owner of the property described in his complaint, and the jury find from the evidence that the same was destroyed through the gross or reckless negligence of the employees in charge of the defendant's trains, he can recover for the same, and the measure of damages will be the fair cash value of such property. (3). If the jury find that the property of the plaintiff was destroyed through the negligence of the employees of the defendant, they will find specially as to whether any portion of said property was unnecessary for the purpose of running the boarding car occupied by the plaintiff." The appellants at the time objected separately to the giving of instructions numbers two and three. The objections were overruled, and exceptions saved.

The plaintiff and the engineer, whose negligence caused the collision, were in different departments of the company's service. The former belonged to the bridge and building department, and the latter to the transportation department. Neither was under the control of the other. But the fact that they belonged to separate departments is of no consequence, further than it may tend to show whether or not the injury complained of was within the risks "ordinarily incident to the service undertaken." The danger of the collision of trains growing out of the negligence of engineers is open and palpable, and was reasonably to be anticipated by the plaintiff in the business in which he was engaged. It was certainly but a normal and natural risk for a bridge foreman to assume when he entered upon the service of the company; for these boarding cars in which he lived were constantly on the move, and they were pulled about over the road by engineers on the various trains. The plaintiff had every opportunity to, and doubtless did, know the manner and method of the movements of these trains. His work necessarily brought him in close contact with these engineers, and he knew that they manipulated the motive power. There...