McDonald v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad

146 S.W. 83, 165 Mo. App. 75, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 454
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided April 2, 1912·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

NORTONI, J.

(after stating the facts). — All the evidence tends to prove, and indeed it is conceded throughout the case, that the train on which plaintiff took passage was an extra on which the carriage of passengers.was prohibited. From plaintiff’s evidence alone it appears that the relation of passenger and carrier did not subsist between him and defendant. Plaintiff says that, being without sufficient means to pay the regular passenger fare, he entered into an arrangement with the conductor of the freight whereby he was to be carried from Cape Girardeau to Crystal City on the payment of twenty-five cents. Bnt this arrangement involved his carriage in a freight car. While it does not appear conclusively plaintiff knew the carriage of passengers was prohibited on this particular train, it is obvious that he did not become a passenger by merely paying a bribe of twenty-five cents to the conductor and accepting passage in the freight car in no sense designed for pas[104] senger service. At most, plaintiff • was not a trespasser, but, instead, occupied that relation which, attends one upon the train, who does not know that he is violating the rules of the carrier, and relies upon the consent of the conductor. This being true, the duty of extraordinary care and other incidents to the relation of passenger and carrier does not obtain in the case, but, instead, it devolved upon defendant only to exercise ordinary care for plaintiff’s safety while in transit and during his ejection or until he had safely alighted from the train. Such we deduce from the following authorities to be the rule of decision which obtains in the jurisprudence of this state: Whitehead v. St. L., I. M. & S. R. Co., 99 Mo. 263, 11 S. W. 751; Berry v. Mo. Pac. R. Co., 124 Mo. 223, 25 S. W. 229; O’Donnell v. K. C., etc. R. Co., 197 Mo. 110, 95 S. W. 196.

But it is argued by defendant that though it owed plaintiff the duty to exercise ordinary care for his safety, the court should have- directed a verdict for it, because the evidence conclusively shows that no-injury was inflicted upon him until after he had been ejected in safety. In this connection it is urged that the duty which obtains between carrier and passenger and requires the carrier to exercise high care to save .the passenger from the insults or assaults of its own servants and others may not be invoked. Of course, this proposition is to be conceded, for, unless the relation of carrier and passenger exists, the obligations incident thereto are wholly beside the case. But though such be true, defendant is liable to respond for the wrongful acts of its servant’s, committed within the scope of their authority while pursuing the-master’s business, even though such acts are wanton and willful and in no sense directed by the master as-to the particular manner of conduct. [See Bouillon v. Laclede Gas Light Co., 148 Mo. App. 462, 129 S. W. 401; Haehl v. Wabash R. Co., 119 Mo. 325, 24 S. [105] W. 737.] The record abounds with evidence to the effect that, among other things, it was the duty of Allison, defendant’s brakeman, and its conductor, too, for that matter, to eject persons from the train when found riding thereon. Obviously, then, defendant may be required to respond to plaintiff for any injury which he suffered at the hands of the brakeman, Allison, or the conductor, Gribson, or the other brakeman, through the breach of the obligation to exercise ordinary care for his safety or because of their wanton and willful conduct thereabout. But defendant’s responsibility touching this matter proceeds in accord with the principle respondeat superior and rests upon the law of agency, wholly irrespective of the relation of passenger and carrier. [See Farber v. Mo. Pac. R. Co., 116 Mo. 81, 22 S. W. 631; Whitehead v. St. L., I. M. & S. R. Co., 22 Mo. App. 60, 63.]

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McDonald v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad, 146 S.W. 83, 165 Mo. App. 75, 1912 Mo. App. LEXIS 454 (Mo. Ct. App. 1912).

146 S.W. 83 (McDonald v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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