Judd's Administratrix v. Southern Railway Co.

188 S.W. 880, 171 Ky. 832, 1916 Ky. LEXIS 435
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedOctober 31, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 188 S.W. 880 (Judd's Administratrix v. Southern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Judd's Administratrix v. Southern Railway Co., 188 S.W. 880, 171 Ky. 832, 1916 Ky. LEXIS 435 (Ky. Ct. App. 1916).

Opinion

Opinion of the Court by

Judge Clarke

Affirming.

This is an action by appellant to recover damages of appellee on account of the death of plaintiff’s intestate, Alfred M. Judd. The lower court sustained a general demurrer to the petition, and appellant declining to plead further, judgment was rendered dismissing the petition, from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

Excluding formal parts, the material allegations of the petition are as follows:

“That on and before February 25th, 1914, the decedent was in the employ of the defendant as steam.locomotive engineer on defendant’s railroad, and on or about the 25th day of February, 1914, was directed by the defendant, in the capacity of locomotive engineer thereon, to conduct and convey one of its trains of passenger cars from Louisville, Kentucky, over defendant’s road to Lexington, Kentucky; that the defendant furnished him, as its servant, a steam locomotive engine and tender and their connections for said purpose, and that the decedent, as engineer, took charge thereof and undertook to run said engine and tender and haul said train, and that the decedent was, by the defendant, required, while acting as engineer thereof, to run said engine and tender and to keep' them and their connections in repair and running order while out on defendant’s road, so they would run and haul defendant’s train on said occasion; that on said occasion when decedent was directed to run said engine and tender and their connections on said trip, as aforesaid, the weather was cold and there was ice here and [834]*834there at different points on defendant’s tracks. The plaintiff states that the defendant failed to exercise ordinary care to furnish, and did not furnish, the decedent with an engine and tender and their connections, fit and suited for the purpose stated, and that the defendant knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known, that the weather was cold and that there was ice on its tracks here and there and at different places on its tracks and that said places were not reasonably safe and suited to repair, or work on, said engine and tender and their connections, and that the said engine and tender and their connections were not reasonably fit and suited for said trip and that they might fail or cease to work, and need repairing, at any point on its road, including the point where there was ice on defendant’s road, and where it was not a safe or suitable place to repair or work on said engine and tender and their connections; and the plaintiff states that the said engine, and tender and their connections, did, on defendant’s road, at one or more points, and at a point in Shelby county, Kentucky, fail or cease to properly work so that the train could not proceed without the decedent working on and repairing said engine and tender and their connections, at said point on defendant’s road, and that the defendant accordingly, in ordering* the decedent to go out on said trip with said engine and tender and their connections, unsuited and unfit for said purpose, failed to exercise ordinary care to see to it that the decedent would have a place reasonably safe and suited to do the work required of him, to repair and keep in running order said engine and tender and their connections, and accordingly failed to exercise ordinary care to furnish him a place reasonably safe and suited to work on and repair said engine and tender and their connections; and the plaintiff states that the decedent at said point in Shelby county, on defendant’s track, where.defendant’s engine and tender and-their connections failed to properly work, and required attention from the decedent and repairing by him, undertook in the discharge of his duties, to work on and repair said engine and tender and their connections, and that while he was engaged in the discharge of his duty, to work on and repair said engine and tender and their connections, and while he was exercising ordinary care for his own safety, the decedent’s foot slipped on said ice on defendant’s [835]*835track and caused him to fall, which fall injured the decedent, from which injury he shortly thereafter died.

“The plaintiff states that the decedent, when he undertook to obey the defendant’s orders to haul and carry said train over said road, did not know that said engine and tender and their connections were unfit and unsuited for that purpose, and when, at the point aforesaid, in Shelby county, Kentucky, defendant’s engine and tender and their connections failed to properly work, and needed attention by the decedent and repairing’ by the decedent, the dang’er of undertaking' to repair and put said engine and tender and their connections in working" order, at said point on defendant’s track, was not obvious to decedent, and that he did not know that said place was not reasonably safe and suited to undertake to repair or put in working order said engine and tender and their connections.

“The plaintiff states that the decedent received his injuries in Shelby county, Kentucky; that said injuries resulted in his death, and that his said injuries and death were directly caused and brought about by and through the negligence of the defendant, to plaintiff’s damage in the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000.00), no part of which has been paid.”

As stated by counsel for appellant in brief the negligence complained of in the petition 'consists, “first, of failure to exercise ordinary care to furnish the plaintiff with an engine and tender fit and suited for the purpose intended; second, that the defendant failed to exercise ordinary care to furnish him a place reasonably safe and suited to work on and repair said engine and tender. ’ ’

1. Let us now examine the petition to ascertain whether or not it states a cause of action upon either of these alleged negligent acts of appellee. It will be noticed that with reference to the first alleged act of negligence, namely: the failure to exercise ordinary care to furnish a suitable engine and tender, the plaintiff alleges that the engine and tender were unfit and unsuitable; that this condition was known, or by the exercise of ordinary care could have been known, by appellee, and while the petition states that decedent did not know that said engine and tender and their connections were unfit and unsuitable for the purpose for which he was to use them, it does not sa.y that condition was not obvious [836]*836or could not have been discovered by him by the exercise of ordinary care. In fact, we doubt if appellant could have made consistently that allegation in view of her statement that it was not only decedent’s duty to run the engine, but it was also his duty to keep it in repair in reference to the parts in which she complains it was defective, because it would seem the duty to keep in repair imposed upon him the same obligation to know of these defects that the duty to furnish imposed upon the appellee. But, however, that may be, the petition must be construed most strongly against appellant, and as it does not state the alleged defects in the engine were not obvious, nor that decedent could not have discovered them by the exercise of ordinary care, it must be assumed they were obvious and could-have been discovered by the decedent by the exercise of ordinary care before he started out on the trip with the engine, or at least at some place suitable for such work as was necessary to keep the engine in running order.

As stated in Benedict Pineapple Co. v. Atlantic C. L. R. Co., 55 Fla. 514, 20 L. R. A. (N. S.) 92, upon which appellant relies to sustain her contention:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
188 S.W. 880, 171 Ky. 832, 1916 Ky. LEXIS 435, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/judds-administratrix-v-southern-railway-co-kyctapp-1916.