Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Bargainier

53 So. 138, 168 Ala. 567, 1910 Ala. LEXIS 543
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedFebruary 26, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 53 So. 138 (Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Bargainier) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Bargainier, 53 So. 138, 168 Ala. 567, 1910 Ala. LEXIS 543 (Ala. 1910).

Opinion

MAYFIELD, J.

The complaint in this case contains 16 counts. The first and fourteenth are all that need be specially considered on this appeal. The eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth counts were eliminated by charges or rulings of the court, and such rulings, being in favor of the appellant, cannot be reviewed on this appeal; and, of course, other rulings as to such counts were without injury to appellant.

Counts from 1 to 10, inclusive, were all grounded on subdivision 1 of the employer’s liability act (Code 1907, c. 80). Each declared upon the same defect in the ways, works, or machinery, to-wit, a defective handhold on the engine or tender; the only difference being that the defect, or the negligent act, relied upon, is expressed in slightly varying and different language. The legal effect of each is practically the same, so far ás to be considered together on this appeal.

Count 14 was bottomed on subdivision 3 of the employer’s liability act.

Count 1 of the complaint was as follows:

“The plaintiff, W. H. Barganier, claims of the defendant, Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, a foreign corporation doing business in Covington county, Ala., the sum of $20,000 damages; for that the defendant on, to-wit, the 26th day of December, 1907, operated [572]*572a railroad in Covington county, Ala., on which it ran engines propelled hy steam, and plaintiff was in the service or employment of said defendant on said date, ana while he was engaged in or about the said service or business of the defendant on said date his left arm was caught under the wheels of an engine then being operated by the said defendant upon its railroad track in Covington county, Ala., and so badly crushed and injured that it had to be amputated, whereby plaintiff Avas caused to suffer great mental and physical pain and distress, Avas put to great trouble and expense in procuring medicine, medical attention, care, and nursing in and about his effort to heal and cure his said wounds, and lost a great deal of time from his work' and Avas crippled and maimed for life, and rendered permanently less able to work and earn money. The plaintiff avers that the said injury was sustained and his arm amputated as aforesaid by reason and as a proximate consequence of a defect in the condition in the ways, works, machinery, or plant used in or connected with the said business of the defendant, which defect arose from, or had not been discovered or remedied owing to, the negligence of some person in the service or employment of the defendant, and intrusted by it with the duty of seeing that the ways, works, machinery, or plant were in proper condition, in this, to wit, the handhold on the tender attached to said engine was broken.”

Count 14 copied count 1 down to and including the words, “work and earn money,” with the following addition thereto: “The plaintiff avers that the said injury was sustained and his arm caused to be amputated as aforesaid by reason and as a proximate of the negligence of H. R. Kirby, who was in the service or employment of the defendant while engaged in the discharge of- his duties within the line of his employment, to [573]*573whose orders and directions at the time of the injury the plaintiff was bound to conform and did conform, and his injury resulted from his having so conformed, in this, to wit: The plaintiff being upon the ground near the said engine of the defendant, and H. B. Kirby being upon the said engine, the said H. B. Kirby did negligently order the plaintiff to come to where he, the said Kirby, Avas upon the said engine.”

Demurrers assigning many grounds were interposed to counts 1 to 10, inclusive, and to count 14, and were overruled as to each, to which rulings many errors are assigned.

Counts 1 to 10 each stated a good cause of action. Each practically followed the language of the statute, which is declared to be actionable negligence under subdivision 1 of the employer’s liability act.

The counts appear to have been modeled after or copied from — as near as could be, under the particular facts of the case — counts heretofore held to be good under that particular subdivision.—Watson’s Case, 90 Ala. 41, 7 South. 813; Hawkins’ Case, 92 Ala. 243, 9 South. 271; George’s Case, 94 Ala. 199, 10 South. 145; Brewer’s Case, 113 Ala. 509, 21 South. 415; Conrad’s Case, 109 Ala. 133, 19 South. 398.

While these facts are very general and fall little short of mere conclusions, these cases hold that counts like these are sufficient.

These counts were not subject to any ground of demurrer interposed against them.

Count 14, however, was defective, and the demurrer to it should have been sustained. While it practically followed the language of subdivision 3 of the statute, a.s counts 1 to 10 followed subdivision 1, yet it does not show any breach of duty, or negligence on which to base a cause of action. It alleges no breach of duty, or neg[574]*574ligence, on the part of the defendant or its servants or agents. True, it alleges that Kirby and plaintiff were servants of defendant, and that Kirby was plaintiff’s superior, and one to whose orders he was bound to conform, and did conform, and that Kirby “negligently ordered plaintiff to come where he, the said Kirby, was, upon the said engine.”

This alone is not sufficient. This subdivision only makes the master liable to his servant for the negligence of such other servants as Kirby is shown to have been, under the circumstances set forth in the subdivision. It does not make the master absolutely liable for every injury received by any of his servants while engaged in a particular work, merely because they were ordered to do the work by another servant, and that the servant injured was bound to conform, and did conform, to the orders of the servant giving the command. The order and obeying of it, one or both, must involve danger, and proximately result in the injury complained of, to render the master liable. If one servant orders another to do an act or work that is not at all dangerous, and the servant to whom it is addressed obeys the order and, while performing it, is injured on account of the negligence of some other servant, or of some other negligence of the servant giving the order, or of that of the master himself, the master may be liable, but not under subdivision 3 of this act.

The order itself must be negligent, or a breach of duty to the servant obeying it, and proximately contribute to the injury of the seiwant obeying the order.

The count does not show that the injuries suffered were the proximate result of plaintiff’s having conformed to the order of his superior, but at most shows that they were a. mere condition of his having so conformed. This is not sufficient.—Hammond's Case, 93 Ala. 183, [575]*5759 South. 577. There is nothing in this count to show that the order was not a proper and innocent one; and there is nothing to show that a child could not have obeyed it with impunity and safety.

This court has time and time again held that it is not dangerous or negligent per se to get on or off a moving train or engine. It may or it may not be, depending upon the particular facts of each particular case— the speed of the car, the physical condition of the person attempting to so board the car or engine, whether he is incumbered with bundles, etc., and the condition of the track, cars, or engine, etc.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
53 So. 138, 168 Ala. 567, 1910 Ala. LEXIS 543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-nashville-railroad-v-bargainier-ala-1910.