Western & A.R. Co. v. Voils
| Decision Date | 19 May 1896 |
| Parties | WESTERN & A. R. CO. v. VOILS. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
1. A writ of error to the supreme court lies from the court established "in the city of Cartersville, in the county of Bartow," by the act of October 10, 1885. Although this act does not itself provide for such writ of error, it may be sued out by virtue of section 4266 of the Code, which was enacted for the purpose of carrying out paragraph 5 of section 2, art. 6, of the constitution. Code, § 5133.
2. A person who goes to a flag station on a railroad at which there is not ticket office, for the purpose of boarding a train, is, upon properly signifying an intention to get upon a passenger train which has actually stopped, entitled to the rights of a passenger.
3. Where a train stopped at such a station, and, after an employé thereon had assisted some passengers to alight started to move on, and the plaintiff then informed this employé of her design to get aboard, and he thereupon signaled to the engineer to stop the train, which was done the train stopping at a low place, where it was difficult to mount the platform steps, and the employé then undertook to assist the plaintiff to get upon the train it was, under these circumstances, a question for the jury whether or not the employé, in so doing, was acting within the scope of his duty.
4. Upon the assumption that he was so acting, the company was liable for injuries received by the plaintiff on account of a fall occasioned by the employé's negligence in rendering the assistance mentioned.
5. There was evidence to warrant the jury in finding that the defendant's servant was acting in the line of his duty in assisting the plaintiff to board the train, and that his negligence caused her injuries; and though the evidence, as a whole, does not make a strong case against the company, this being the second verdict in her favor, and the trial judge having refused to set it aside, this court will not interfere.
Error from city court of Cartersville; John W. Akin, Judge.
Action by Sarah E. Voils against the Western & Atlantic Railway Company to recover damages for personal injuries. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.
Payne & Tye and J. W. Harris, Jr., for plaintiff in error.
Neel & Swain, for defendant in error.
1. This case comes before us upon a writ of error from the court created and established by an act entitled "An act to establish a city court in the county of Bartow," etc approved October 10, 1885 (Acts 1885, p. 487). A motion to dismiss the writ of error was made upon the ground that the act does not provide for reviewing the judgments of the court by bill of exceptions and writ of error from that court to the supreme court. The act, it is true, does not itself provide for this; but under paragraph 5 of section 2, art. 6 of the constitution, which declares that the supreme court shall be a court "for the trial and correction of errors from the city courts of Atlanta and Savannah, and such other like courts as may hereafter be established in other cities," and under section 4266 of the Code, which was enacted for the purpose of carrying out this provision of the constitution, and which declares that "the mode now prescribed by law for carrying cases from the superior courts to the supreme court, shall obtain in and apply to the city courts of the cities of Savannah and Augusta, and such other like courts as may be hereafter established," no express provision authorizing writs of error from the court in question to the supreme court was necessary. The court is clearly within the term "like courts," as used in the constitution and in the section of the Code here referred to. It is designated in the act as a "city court," and is, by the terms of the act, located "in the city of Cartersville"; and the act provides that it shall be governed by the same laws, and shall have the same power, as to pleading, practice, modes of procedure, etc., as the superior court, and shall have power to...
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