Grant v. Union Pac. Ry. Co.

45 F. 673
U.S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of Iowa·Decided March 15, 1891·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Shiras, J.,

(charging jury orally.) In this case the plaintiff, John Grant, seeks to recover damages in the sum of $25,000 against the defendant, the Union Pacific Railway Company, for injuries which he avers he received while in the employ of that company, in November, 1887. Before passing to the discussion of the principal questions which it will be necessary for you to consider and determine in this particular case, it will be well for me to instruct you upon the general rules that apply, in law. to parties who occupy the relation to each other of master and servant, and also some other general principles which should have weight and bearing in a case of this character. It is arecognized principle of the law that persons who enter upon any given employment assume the risks, hazards, and dangers that pertain to that particular business, when the saméis carried on in a proper and careful manner. Your common experience has taught you that there are some of the businesses and avocations of life that are more dangerous in their nature than the ordinary avocations; and your common experience has shown you, gentlemen, that this business of railroading is particularly a business in the conduct of which there is risk, hazard, and danger. This grows out of the fact that in the management of railroads and trains, on account of the great weight of the locomotives and cars, and the speed at which they are run, — from the facts which inhere in the very nature of the business' itself, — a person who assumes the position of an employe of that character, whose duties call him about trains or locomotives when they are being moved, is of necessity subjected to a greater risk and hazard than pertain to the ordinary avocations of life. Therefore it is true that a person who enters upon this business of railroading assumes himself all these risks and hazards, no matter how great they may be; that is to say, the risks and hazards that grow out of the business, and are inherent in it when properly carried on. He does not, of course, assume any risk or danger caused by the negligence of the railroad company. The duty and obligation is placed upon the railroad company, as the master, to use ordinary care in furnishing for its employes a safe place and safe appliances with which to perform the work expected of them. Now, what is meant by “ordinary care” is that degree of care which a prudent man would exercise in view of the circumstances that surround him ata given time. It is a recognized principle of the law that when human life and human limbs are at stake or in danger, the exercise of “ordinary care” requires greater caution, foresight, and prudence than are re[675] quired ordinarily when human life and limbs are not in danger. But the law places the duty upon the employe himself, when he enters ink a business of this character, which is dangerous in its nature, of exercising the same degree of care upon his part for his own protection. The very fact that the business in which he is engaged is by reason of its nature a dangerous one, and that the ordinary demands of the employment will require the employe to subject himself to these risks and hazards, requires the employe upon his part to exercise all the care, caution, and foresight for his own protection which a prudent and careful man should exercise when his own life or limbs are placed in danger or hazard. The duly and degree of care that are required of the master and of the employe are of the same character and degree, and are both defined as I have already stated.

Now, negligence consists in the failure to exercise that degree of care which the law expects of a party under given circumstances. In a case of this character it is not sufficient, to enable the plaintiff to recover, that it be simply shown to you that he entered the employ of the railroad company, and while in that employ the accident happened, thereby causing the injury and damage to him; that is not sufficient. Before the plaintiff can recover it must be shown, by a fair preponderance of the evidence, that the accident causing the injury resulted from some negligence upon the part of the railway company, or from negligence for which the railway company is in law held responsible. It is a further principle of the law that, if it appears that plaintiff himself', by negligence upon his own part, caused the accident, or contributed to the cause of the accident, he cannot recover. Of course, if the defendant company was not negligent, and the accident was caused wholly by the negligence of plaintiff, he would have no cause of complaint against the company, and could not recover. Furthermore, if the evidence shows that the negligence of both parties contributed to the cause of the accident, that defeats flic right of recovery upon the part of the person injured. This is the doctrine which is known in law under the term “contributory negligence,” and it is based upon the principle that the law does not attempt to separate the consequences of an act which has been brought about by the combined negligence of the two parties. When the negligence of both parties, master and servant, or plaintiff and defendant, has combined together to cause the accident, then the law grants neither party the right to recover against the other. It leaves the parties just where their owu acts have placed them. Therefore, in cases of this kind, it is necessary, if it should appear that a given accident was due to the negligence upon the part of the defendant, that it he shown that the negligence was the proximate or immediate cause of the accident which caused the injury. And, furthermore, if it appears from the evidence that the plaintiff himself, by negligence upon his part, contributed to the accident, that would then defeat the right of recovery which he would otherwise have.

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Grant v. Union Pac. Ry. Co., 45 F. 673 (circtsdia 1891).

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