Duree v. Wabash R.

241 F. 454, 154 C.C.A. 286, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 28, 1917
DocketNo. 4751
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 241 F. 454 (Duree v. Wabash R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Duree v. Wabash R., 241 F. 454, 154 C.C.A. 286, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782 (8th Cir. 1917).

Opinion

ROSTER, District Judge.

The plaintiff in error, hereafter referred to as the plaintiff, brought this action against the defendant in error, hereafter referred to as the defendant, to recover damages for the death of her son, a boy of about 11% years old, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant. The record discloses the following facts:

On the 4th of January, 1914, Eréd Craft, a locomotive engineer, and Clyde Henderson, a locomotive fireman, both in the employ of the defendant, were at Moberly, Mo., in charge of one of the defendant’s engines; that this engine had been in the shops for repair, and they were taking it out on the road to “try it out” before putting it back into regular service; that before leaving Moberly the plaintiff’s son requested and was permitted by the engineer to ride on the engine; that upon leaving Moberly the engine was running backward, and as it came to the switch at Cairo, a station 6 miles distant from Moberly, it left the rails, turned over on its side, and the engineer and boy received injuries from which they both died; that the engine on which the plaintiff’s intestate was riding, at his request and with permission of the engineer, was one used in the passenger service; that its maximum speed was about 60 miles an hour; that the boy was riding in 'the cab upon the fireman’s side of the engine, and at the time of the accident was standing in front of the seat box, a place entirely safe so long as the engine remained upon the rails; that the track at that place prior to the accident was in good condition. The only conflicting evidence, in the record is as to the rate of speed at which the .engine was running at the time of its derailment. The fireman, who was upon the engine at the time of the accident, testified that it was running about 15 miles an hour. Other witnesses, who noticed the engine as it came into Cairo, fixed the speed at from 25 to 35 miles per hour.

The petition was several times amended. In the fourth and last amendment, filed on the 31st of August, 1915, the plaintiff states:

“Plaintiff withdraws all the allegations of her petition charging that the defendant’s employés negligently induced and invited the deceased to get upon the engine; also all allegations of negligence based upon the unsafe and dangerous condition of the defendant’s track, except in so far as knowledge of the condition of said track bears on the care required of defendant’s engineer and fireman in running said locomotive over the same.”
“That the particular acts of negligence, inefficiency, and carelessness of the employés and agents of the defendant, upon which she seeks to predicate negligence, are that the defendant’s said employes at the time well knew that the said railroad track at the time and place of the injury was not level, one side being about one inch lower than the other, and with said knowledge were running said engine backward at the time said injury was received by the deceased at the dangerous and hazardous rate of speed of 30 to 35 miles an hour; and plaintiff avers that the running of said engine backward over said track at said rate- of speed was in and of itself gross negligence on the part of said employés.”

By this last amendment the plaintiff narrowed the issues, and based her right to recover upon the averments that the defendant’s employés at the time of the. accident were negligently running the engine backward over the track at a dangerous rate of speed, and that its derailment was caused thereby. • At the close of the plaintiff’s evidence, [457]*457on motion of the defendant, the court instructed the jury to return a verdict in its favor.

The four assignments of error present but a single question: Was the court justified under the facts and law in sustaining the defendant’s motion and directing a verdict in its favor? In determining this question the controlling feature is: Was there a duty to the plaintiff’s intestate which was violated by the defendant? If there was, then the court erred in giving the instruction requested. If there was not, there is no legal liability, and tlie court committed no error in instructing the jury as it did.

[1-4] In the case presented by this record there is no' question of contributory negligence involved in the inquiry or essential to its consideration. If the defendant did not owe the duty of protection against the injury complained of, then the omission to furnish such protection does not constitute such negligence on its part as will warrant a recover}? therefor against it. From the facts of the case it is perfectly plain that the plaintiff’s intestate did not sustain to the defendant company the relation of a passenger, there was no contract, either express or implied, for his transportation, and he was not, therefore, entitled to that high degree of care to which a common carrier is held for the safety of those who have paid for their transportation as passengers. On the contrary, we think his relation to the defendant company, whether technically so or not, was in contemplation of law that of an intruder or trespasser, and the defendant owed him no duty, except the negative one, not maliciously, wantonly, or with gross and reckless carelessness to injure him. And the fact that the deceased in the present case was a boy 11% years old cannot affect the application of the rule, for the reason that the absence of duty is the same as in the case of an adult, and the consequent absence of liability must be the same in both. It is true that children can recover lor injuries in circumstances in which adults cannot; but there can be'no recovery, even in the ease of a child, unless there is negligence, and there can he no negligence without a breach of duty. In the present case the only duty which is or can be claimed as having been violated was a duty to protect the plaintiff’s intestate when riding upon the engine from injury by derailment of the engine or otherwise; but we are wholly unable to see how any such duty can arise out of the circumstances of this accident. Clearly this boy was where he had no legal right to be. He was not a passenger, and was not upon the engine for the purpose of assisting in its operation in any way, hut merely riding there with the permission of the engineer, and without the consent of the defendant company. The defendant owed him no duty, therefore, except, as above stated, not to wantonly or willfully injure him. Any other duty toward him could only spring up on the part of the defendant by an act of the engineer coming within the scope of the engineer’s employment. Clark v. Colorado & N. W. R. Co., 165 Fed. 408, 91 C. C. A. 358, 19 L. R. A. (N. S.) 988; Snyder v. H. & St. Joe R. Co., 60 Mo. 413; Jackson v. C., R. I. & P. Railway Co., 178 Fed. 432, 102 C. C. A. 159; C., R. I. & P. Railway Co. v. Thurlow, 178 Fed. 894, 102 C. C. A. 128, 30 L. R. [458]*458A. (N. S.) 571; C., St. P., M. & O. Railway Co. v. Bryant, 65 Fed. 969, 13 C. C. A. 249.

[5] And the fact that the engineer permitted this boy to ride upon the engine cannot change the situation, unless it is made to appear that he had authority, either express or implied, to do so. “Beyond the scope of his employment the servant is as much, a stranger to his master as any third person.” Morier v. St. P. Ry. Co., 31 Minn. 351, 17 N. W. 952, 47 Am. Rep. 793.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
241 F. 454, 154 C.C.A. 286, 1917 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/duree-v-wabash-r-ca8-1917.