East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad v. Lindamood

111 Tenn. 457
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 15, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 111 Tenn. 457 (East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad v. Lindamood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad v. Lindamood, 111 Tenn. 457 (Tenn. 1903).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Beard

delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is the second time this case has been before this court. At the September term, 1902, it was reversed because of the admission of incompetent testimony. The opinion of the court on that reversal will be found in 109 Tenn., 407, 74 S. W., 112. Upon its remand, another trial was had, resulting in a verdict and judgment for $5,000 against the railroad company; and it has appealed, and assigned errors upon the action of the trial judge.

The defendant in error was a brakeman in service of [460]*460plaintiff in error, and while discharging his duty as such he received the injury, to recover damage for which this suit was brought. The declaration contains two counts. In the first of these it is alleged that while engaged in this service he was thrown from the top of a freight or box car in motion, and thereby received the injury complained of, and that his fall was caused by the negligence of his employer in having in use upon this car a brake which was out of repair and dangerous, in that the brake chain was too long, and, by reason of this defect, when attempting to apply the brake he fell from the car, and was run over by it.

The second count averred that the fall and injury as alleged in the first count were attributable to the negligence of the master in using a freight car with a brake which was defective, in that the deadwood in the car projected against or so close to the brake rod and the eyebolt of the brake rod as to prevent it from turning freely, and, in consequence of this, when attempting to apply the brake, defendant in error fell and was injured.

It will thus be seen that the plaintiff below presented by his declaration two theories upon which he sought to recover: First, that the brake chain was too long;, and, second, that the eyebolt of the brake rod rubbed against the deadwood, and that one or both of these conditions occasioned his injury, and that the negligence of the master in permitting the existence of one or both of these defective conditions was actionable, so far as he was concerned. The record shows that the plaintiff in [461]*461error was operating a narrow-gauge railroad upon a line some thirty-two miles long, running from Jolmson City, in tbis State, to its terminus, near tbe boundary of North Carolina, and owned and was using on tbis line ten or twelve freight or box cars. It also shows that tbe defendant in error bad been for several years engaged in tbe shops of tbe company, repairing and building such cars. About six months, however, before tbe occurrence of tbe accident, be was employed by tbis company as brakeman; and, as has been already stated, it was while acting in tbis capacity be received bis injury.

His account of tbe accident is that, under tbe direction of bis superior, be mounted a freight car, which bad been kicked on a side track, for tbe purpose of stopping it; and, to do tbis, be took bold of tbe wheel at tbe top of tbe brake staff, and was pulling it around with all bis force, when tbe brake gave “a sudden jerk or lurch,” loosening bis bold on tbe wheel, so that, losing bis balance, be fell from the car, which was still in motion, and was run over by it. He does not undertake to say what was tbe cause of tbis jerk or lurch, as be did not examine tbe car or brake staff either before, at tbe time of, or after tbe accident, nor did any one else make such examination. So far as bis testimony or that of tbe other witnesses introduced by him, was concerned, tbe court and jury were left in tbe dark as to what occasioned it. No witness undertook to state affirmatively that tbe accident resulted from either of tbe conditions charged as negligence in tbe declaration, or, in fact, from any other [462]*462defect in the brake or its connections: The record is silent upon this very essential question, unless information is to be found in certain testimony, the competency of which will herafter he considered.

Before coming to the examination of the assignment of error that calls in question the admission of this testimony, there are certain well-established principles con-drolling such a case as the present, which it is proper to state:

In the first place, it is well settled that the evidence of the plaintiff must conform to the specific acts of negligence alleged in the declaration. E. T. Coal Co. v. Daniel, 100 Tenn., 72, 42 S. W., 1062. In the second place, as between the employer and employee, there is no presumption of negligence on the part of the former in furnishing appliances to the latter, arising from the injury itself. Mr. Woodj in his work on the Law of Master and Servant, section 368, says: “From the mere fact that an injury results to a servant from a latent defect in machinery or appliances of the business, no presumption of negligence on the' master’s part is raised. There must be evidence of neglect connecting him with the injury. . . . The mere fact that the machinery proves defective, and that the injury results therefrom, does not fix the master’s liability. Prima facie, it is presumed that the master has discharged his duty to the servant, and that he was not at fault. Therefore the servant must overcome this presumption by proof of fault on the master’s part, either by showing [463]*463that he knew or ought to have known of the defects complained of. . . . The burden of proving negligence on the part of the master is upon the servant; and he is bound to show that the injury arose from defects known to the master, or which he would have known by the exercise of ordinary care, or that he has failed to observe precautions essential to the protection of the servant, which ordinary prudence would have suggested.”

Again, at section 382, the same author says: “The servant seeking recovery for an injury takes the burden upon himself of establishing negligence on the part of the master, and due care on his own part. And he is met by two presumptions, both of which he must overcome in order to entitle him to recovery: First, that the master has discharged his duty to him, by providing suitable instrumentalities for his business, and in keeping them in condition; and this involves proof of something more than the mere fact that the injury resulted from a defect in the machinery. It imposes upon him the burden of showing that the master had notice of the defect, or, in the exercise of that ordinary care which he is bound to observe, he would have known it. When this is established he is met by another presumption, the force of which must be overcome by him, and that is that he assumed all the usual and ordinary hazards.”

This rule rests in part on the ground that one charging negligence as the gravamen of his action must prove it. (The Nitroglycerin Case, 15 Wall., 524, 21 L. Ed., [464]*464206), and in part upon the presumption of law, which, in absence of all evidence to the contrary, is in favor of the performance of duty (Polk v. Kirtland, 56 Tenn., 292). In one form or another it has been applied by this court in Railroad v. Gurley, 80 Tenn., 46, and Railroad Company v. Duffield, 80 Tenn., 63, 47 Am. Rep., 319, and Railroad v. Stewart, 81 Tenn., 432, and in other cases.

Mere conjectural testimony will not be sufficient to meet and overcome these presumptions. In Sack v. Dolese, 137 Ill., 129, 27 N. E., 62, the rule was applied to facts somewhat similar to those of the present case.

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