Burkett v. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad

24 Misc. 76, 53 N.Y.S. 394
CourtNew York County Courts
DecidedJune 15, 1898
StatusPublished

This text of 24 Misc. 76 (Burkett v. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York County Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burkett v. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, 24 Misc. 76, 53 N.Y.S. 394 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1898).

Opinion

Beman, J.

The defendant operates a line of railroad, extending from Hew York city to Loon Lake and beyond. On the 7th day of October, 1897,. the plaintiff was in the employ of the defendant ,as a laborer upon defendant’s road. Upon that day he quit defendant’s employ and. remained at Loon Lake station until about the 18th day of October upon which day he caused his trunk to be checked at Loon Lake station for Tupper Lake Junction without first having purchased a ticket for his own passage between said stations. The trunk was transported upon .the regular passenger train of defendant to Tupper Lake Junction station and safely landed upon the platform. • The plaintiff did not take passage to said station- on the same train that carried the trunk, but waited until a later hour [77]*77in the day and then boarded a freight train at said Loon Lake station, and, having stated to the conductor that he was wrokin'g on the section between Loon Lake and Plumadore, and that he was being transferred to work for Mr. Black, the roadmaster, on the work train out of.Tupper Lake Junction station and that he was still in the service of the defendant, was permitted to ride upon said train without the payment of the regular fare between those ■stations.

It appears from the- evidence in the case that the plaintiff had not been in the employ of the defendant since the 7th day of October previous and was not in the employ of the defendant at the time he went to Tupper Lake Junction. Upon plaintiff’s arrival at Tupper Lake Junction at about seven o’clock in the evening he ■saw his trunk standing on the platform apparently in good condition, The ^plaintiff’s lodgings or boarding place while at Tupper Lake Junction was but a short distance from the railroad station, and* from the evidence in the case, independent of- any directions or instructions given by plaintiff to defendant’s agent at Tupper Lake Junction, it appears that the plaintiff had ample opportunity for seeing, and did see two or three times during the remainder of the night that his trunk still remained upon the platform where it had been placed immediately after it was delivered from the railroad train. Moreover it appears by the evidence of the telegraph operator and night watchman at the station, Mr. Gutman, who was called as a witness by the plaintiff upon the trial of the action, that he saw the plaintiff upon the arrival of the train or very shortly after and that he called witness’s attention to the trunk and remarked that “ the trunk was his and to leave it there and he would be over after it in a short time.” 1 It is evident from this remark of the plaintiff that he did not purpose and it was not his intention to subject the trunk to any further care by the defendant. Acting upon the directions given by plaintiff in that regard' and which are confirmed by the conductor of the train which brought plaintiff to Tupper Lake Junction, and who heard the conversation between the witness Getman and the plaintiff, the agents or employees of the company did nothing further with the trunk thereafter, than to place the same near the building, underneath a window therein, so that the' lights burning inside shone through the window and directly upon the trunk where it was lodged. From the evidence of the plaintiff himself it appears that-he left the trunk at-the station under the conditions as stated, for his own personal convenience, because of the [78]*78fact of his intention to take passage on defendant’s train on the. following morning for Malone.

t is claimed by the plaintiff that the defendant is guilty of gross negligence in that it did. not cause the trunk to be placed inside of the railroad station or in some other safe place, thus preventing during the night the abstraction of plaintiff’s, wearing apparel there from, and his loss thereof. To sustain this position the .plaintiff cites the following cases: Gordon v. Grand St. & Newton. R. R. Co., 40 Barb. 456; Buffett v. Troy & Boston R. R. Co., 40 N. Y. 168; Edgerton v. New York & Harlem R. R. Co., 39 id. 227.

I find nothing upon examination of those cases that applies to the question involved in this appeal, The questions passed upon' there are as to the liability of the defendants for injuries- received by passengers while traveling in and upon public conveyances. The question involved here is, whether the defendant as a common carrifer is hable for the loss of plaintiff’s goods, stolen from his trunk after the same had been gratuitously transported from one station to. another upon defendant’s road, such transportation having been procured by false representations and by deception practiced upon defendant’s agents. In the case of Nolton v. Western R. R. Corp., 15 N. Y. 444, it was held that where a railroad .company voluntarily undertakes to convey a passenger upon then road whether with or without compensation, if such passenger be injured by culpable negligence of the agents of the company, the latter is hable, but, where the passenger is -carried gratuitously the liability of the carrier for an injury caused by the gross negligence of its agents, arises, not from .any implied contract', but from the violation of a duty imposed by circumstances. The difference between that case and this consists in the fact that the question involved in the former was. for damages for injury to the person, and in the latter the loss, of personal property. It is a well-settled, rule of law that a liabihty exists for any injury to a passenger on ,a railroad train which occurs through the negligence of' the company’s agents. It is equally a well-settled rule of law that the hability of a railroad company for the baggage of a passenger on its road continues to be that of a common carrier until the passenger has had a reasonable opportunity to remove the same from its custody. This doctrine is fully discussed and laid down in Dininny v. Railroad Co., 49 N. Y. 546, and Maxwell v. Girard, 84 Hun, 537. The case of. Michaels v. N. Y. Cent. R. R. Co., reported in 30 N. Y. 564, holds that the duty of a common carrier begins when the goods are re[79]*79ceived into his custody for transportation and ends when they are securely and safely carried and delivered to the owner. It does not mean by this, however, that a common carrier is under obligations to house, care for or store the goods transported, except so far as is necessary to preserve them from immediate loss or damage other than through the act of God or of the public enemy.

The defendant in this case was under no obligation to place the trunk belonging to the plaintiff inside of its station or to exercise any further care or control over the same¡ after it had been gratuitously transported from Loon Lake to Tupper Lake Junction and safely landed upon the defendant’s platform. It was the owner’s duty, at once and with diligence to remove the trunk and so much time as he gave to his other business or pleasure to the neglect of taking charge of the property and removing it from the custody of the carrier cannot he allowed to him in estimating the time in which to take delivery. Hedges v. Hudson River R. R. Co., 49 N. Y. 223; Graves v. Fitchburg R. R. Co., opinion by Justice Parker in App. Div., 3d Dept., May 4, 1898, reported in 29 App. Div. 591.

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Related

Michaels v. New York Central Railroad
30 N.Y. 564 (New York Court of Appeals, 1864)
Dininny v. New York & New Haven Railroad
49 N.Y. 546 (New York Court of Appeals, 1872)
Buffett v. . the Troy and Boston R.R. Co.
40 N.Y. 168 (New York Court of Appeals, 1869)
Nolton v. . Western Railroad Corporation
15 N.Y. 444 (New York Court of Appeals, 1857)
Graves v. Fitchburg Railroad
29 A.D. 591 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1898)
Jarvis v. Sewall
40 Barb. 449 (New York Supreme Court, 1863)
Maxwell v. Gerard
32 N.Y.S. 849 (New York Supreme Court, 1895)

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Bluebook (online)
24 Misc. 76, 53 N.Y.S. 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burkett-v-new-york-central-hudson-river-railroad-nycountyct-1898.