Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. Stupak

8 N.E. 630, 108 Ind. 1, 1886 Ind. LEXIS 174
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 12, 1886
DocketNo. 12,256
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 8 N.E. 630 (Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. Stupak) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co. v. Stupak, 8 N.E. 630, 108 Ind. 1, 1886 Ind. LEXIS 174 (Ind. 1886).

Opinion

Howk, C. J.

The first error of which complaint is here made by appellant, the defendant below, is the overruling of its demurrer to the first paragraph of appellee’s complaint.

In this first paragraph, appellee alleged that appellant was a railroad corporation owning and operating a railroad over and across Porter county, Indiana; that, in the operation of its railroad, appellant ran a certain locomotive engine and construction train, composed of flat cars, used for hauling, gravel, etc., westward from Laporte, Indiana; that such locomotive and train of cars had been so used by appellant for five years before the commencement of this suit; that, on such train of cars, appellant had in its employ a large number of hands who resided at different points along its railroad, and were conveyed by such train to and from their places of labor, night and morning; that appellant had in its employ, for a year pi’ior to the 13th day of August, as engineer of the locomotive engine used to propel such construction train, one-Pool who was habitually careless- and negligent in the discharge of his duties as such engineer, during all of said time, and was not possessed of sufficient skill to run said engine in an ordinarily careful and prudent manner, of all which appellant had due notice but negligently retained said Pool in its employ as such engineer.

Appellee further alleged that some time during July, 1883, he being wholly unacquainted with said Pool, and with appellant’s employees in charge of such construction train, entered the service of appellant as one of its laborers or work-hands upon such construction train, and as a track repairer of its road-bed; that on or about such 13th day of August, 1883, the appellee, while in appellant’s employ, upon such construction train, was standing upon one of the cars of such train,. [3]*3while the same was standing still, and while the locomotive engine attached thereto was in the management and control of said Pool, when, without any fault or negligence upon appellee’s part, said Pool negligently and without any signal or warning suddenly put said engine and train of cars in rapid motion, whereby appellee was thrown off his feet, between two cars, and his arms were crushed. and broken in such a manner as to be permanently disabled, and his person was otherwise mangled, cut and bruised, causing him great physical and mental suffering, etc.; to his damage, etc. All of which was wholly without his fault, but owing to the fault and negligence of said Pool as aforesaid, and of the appellant in keeping said Pool in its employ, as such engineer, after notice of his unskillful and negligent habits in running said engine as aforesaid. Wherefore, etc.

It is claimed by appellant’s counsel that this paragraph of complaint was insufficient, and the demurrer thereto ought to have been sustained, for two reasons, namely:

1. Because appellee has not averred therein that he did not know of Pool’s negligent habits at the time he entered appellant’s service.

2. Because appellee has failed to aver any excuse for his remaining in appellant’s service after he knew, or should have known, of Pool’s negligent habits.

The general rule of law, recognized and acted upon in’ many of our decisions, is, that the master is not liable in damages to an employee for an injury caused or occasioned by the negligence, whether of omission or commission, of a. co-employee or fellow servant. The liability to injury, resulting from the negligence of his co-employees, is one of the risks which each employee, engaging with others in the service of a common master, takes upon himself. Such a liability to injury is a hazard incident to the nature of the service into which the employee enters, and against which the master is not an insurer, in the absence of an express contract to that effect. ISTor is the master rendered liable by the [4]*4fact; if it be the fact, that the injured employee is inferior in grade of employment to the co-employee, through whose negligence the injury is caused, if both were employed in the same general business; or, in other words, “if the services of each in his particular sphere or department are directed to the accomplishment of the same general end.” Columbus, etc., R. W. Co. v. Arnold, 31 Ind. 174. Pittsburgh, etc., R. W. Co. v. Ruby, 38 Ind. 294 (10 Am R. 111); Brazil, etc., Coal Co. v. Cain, 98 Ind. 282; Pittsburgh, etc., R. W. Co. v. Adams, 105 Ind. 151.

Where, therefore, as here, the servant shows- in his complaint that the injury, for which he sues the master, was caused or occasioned by the negligence of his fellow servant, he must also allege in his complaint, either that the master had not exercised ordinary care and prudence in the employment of such fellow servant, or that it had retained him in its service, after it had received notice that he was negligent in the discharge of the duties of his position. This much must be stated, in relation to the negligence of the master; and with respect to himself, in such a case, the injured servant must aver in his complaint that, at the time he entered the master’s service, he had no knowledge of the negligent habits of the fellow servant, through whose negligence he has alleged that he was injured.' It is for the want of this last averment, or its equivalent, that the first paragraph of appellee’s complaint in the case at bar was fatally insufficient. If the appellee knew, at the time he entered appellant’s service (and we can not presume that he did not know, in the absence of any averment to that effect), that his fellow servant, Pool, wad habitually negligent in the discharge of his duties as an engineer, and was not possessed of sufficient skill to run an engine in an ordinarily prudent manner, it must be held, we think, that he voluntarily took upon himself all the risks incident to, or growing out of, Pool’s negligence and lack of skill in the management of his engine. Appellee has sued the appellant to recover damages for an injury, alleged by [5]*5him to have been caused by the negligence of Pool, his fellow servant. To have stated a cause of action, sufficient to withstand a demurrer for the want of facts, in such a case, it was necessary that the appellee should have alleged in his complaint, not alone that appellant knew of Pool’s negligence, but also that he had no knowledge thereof; for, if he had knowledge of Pool’s negligent habits, and entered appellant’s service with such knowledge, he- thereby consented to serve with Pool in the way and manner in which Pool conducted appellant’s business; and having so consented, he can have no sufficient grounds of complaint against appellant for an injury, caused by or resulting from Pool’s negligent habits. Sullivan v. India Man’g Co., 113 Mass. 396; Gibson v. Erie R. W. Co., 63 N. Y. 449 (20 Am. R. 552); De Forest v. Jewett, 88 N. Y. 264; Wonder v. Baltimore, etc., R. R. Co., 32 Md. 411 (3 Am. R. 143); Michigan Central R. R. Co. v. Smithson, 45 Mich. 212; Hughes v. Winona, etc., R. R. Co., 27 Minn. 137; Riest v. City of Goshen, 42 Ind. 339; Green, etc., Passenger R. W. Co. v. Bresmer, 97 Pa. St. 103; McGinnis v. Canada Southern Bridge Co., 8 Am. & Eng. R. R. Cases, 135, note p. 139; Wood Mast. & Serv., section 423, note.

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Bluebook (online)
8 N.E. 630, 108 Ind. 1, 1886 Ind. LEXIS 174, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-shore-michigan-southern-railway-co-v-stupak-ind-1886.