St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Cantrell

1917 OK 177, 164 P. 110, 63 Okla. 187, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 517
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 20, 1917
Docket6335
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1917 OK 177 (St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Cantrell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Cantrell, 1917 OK 177, 164 P. 110, 63 Okla. 187, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 517 (Okla. 1917).

Opinion

HARDY, J.

O. A. Cantrell, as plaintiff, .sued the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company as defendant, for damages alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant, as will hereinafter .appear. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

Plaintiff was constable of district No. 5, ■Campbell township, in Sequoyah county, and about the 15th of November, 1912, went to the depot of defendant in the town of Gore to meet a train, which was due at such station at 9:54 p. m., for the purpose of searching the same and apprehending two persons for whom he had a warrant of arrest, charging them with the crime of larceny. Upon the arrival of the train, plaintiff notified the employe of defendant who was assisting the passengers to alight that he had a warrant and of his purpose to board the train and requested such employe to hold the train until he could search it, to which the employe assented. After the passengers had alighted plaintiff went aboard the train for the purpose of searching it. when it was almost immediately started up. After completing his search, in attempting, to alight, plaintiff- fell and was injured.

The principal question presented is based upon the instructions given by the court and in refusing certain requests by defendant, defining the duty owing by defendant to plaintiff under the circumstances. Defendant objected to the introduction of any evidence under the petition, _and demurred to the plaintiff’s evidence at the close thereof, and requested the court to instruct a verdict in its favor, and duly excepted to instructions given, defining the measure of duty owing by it to plaintiff, and reserved exceptions to the refusal of the court to give certain requests offered. It is the contention of defendant that the circumstances show that plaintiff was a trespasser or, at most, a mere licensee, and that the measure of its duty to him was to refrain from wanton and willful injury, while it is the contention of plaintiff, and the jury were so instructed by the court, that defendant owed to plaintiff the duty to exercise ordinary care to avoid injury to him. In support of defendant’s contention it is argued that the warrant under which plaintiff was acting was insufficient in law and that because the parties for whom he was searching had not committed an offense in his presence, he was not entitled to make an arrest without a warrant. AVe deem it unnecessary to discuss this question. for the reason that plaintiff’s presence upon the train was with defendant’s knowledge and permission and in accordance with an agreement to hold the train until he could make search and disembark. In the discharge of his duty as an officer, he was authorized to arrest persons whom lie had reasonable grounds to believe had committed a felons', and who were seeking to escape upon defendant’s train, without a warrant (section 5654. Rev. Laws 1910), nad in entering said train for that purpose he was not a trespasser.

in Creeden v. Boston, etc., R. Co., 193 Mass. 280, 79 N. E. 344, 9 Ann. Cas. 1121, which is relied upon by defendant as supporting its contention, the facts were that plaintiff’s intestate, who was an officer, on the night of the accident had entered a train of defendant to look, for persons wnom he had reason to believe were criminals and were escaping from the city; that he found one of such persons on the train, and left the train, which had stopped on a bridge across the Merrimac river, together with the person he had arrested; that when on the bridge and making liis way towards the station, plaintiff’s intestate hit his foot against a projecting plank on the bridge and fell to the street and was killed. The court held that deceased ivas at most a mere licensee, and that the company was not liable. Attention was called to the fact that the petition contained no allegation that plaintiff’s intestate entered the train for the purpose of serving a warrant for the arrest of any person 'Whom he believed to be there, nor that he had reasonable ground to believe that a breach of the peace or other crime was committed thereon, nor that there were upon said train persons who had committed an offense for which it was lawful to make an arrest without a warrant. The facts in that case are so dissimilar to the facts here that we do not regard it as controlling. Here plaintiff had a warrant for the arrest of certain persons charged with the commission of a crime; and, while the warrant is conceded not to be legally sufficient, that is a question of which the defendant cannot take advantage; but if this be not true, the evidence shows that plaintiff informed defendant’s employe that he desired to go aboard the train and arrest two persons charged with the commission of a felony, and that said employe consented that he might do so, and agreed to hold the train until it could be searched and plaintiff could alight therefrom.

In a number of cases it has been held that a police officer who. in the discharge of his *189 duties, enters a building in the nighttime for •the purpose of inspecting the premises, and who falls down an unguarded elevator well which is required by ordinance to be protected, is, in such cases, rightfully upon the premises, and that the duty imposed upon the master to protect elevator wells, hoistvvays, and similar openings is intended for his benefit, as well as other persons rightfully entering the premises, and for a failure of the owner to properly protect such openings resulting in injury to the officer, he is entitled to recover (Parker v. Barnard et al., 135 Mass. 116, 46 Am. Rep. 450; Learoyd v. Godfrey, 138 Mass. 315; Ryan v. Thomson, 38 N. Y. Super Ct. 133; Racine v. Morris et al., 201 N. Y. 240, 94 N. E. 864) ; and under similar conditions it has been held that a customs or revenue officer, who is required by his duties to go upon the. premises of . another and while there suffers injury by reason of the defective condition of the premises resulting from the negligence of the owner, is there by the implied invitation of the 'Owner, and is entitled to recover for damages occasioned by the injuries resulting from such negligent condition (Anderson & Nelson Dis. Co. v. Hair. 103 Ivy. 196, 44 S. W. 658; Luddington v. Miller, 36 N. Y. Super. Ct. 1.; Wilson v. Union Works Dry Dock Co.. 167 Cal. 539. 140 Pac. 250, 51 L. R. A. [N. S.] 361).

AYhere a quarantine guard whose duty it is to prevent unauthorized persons from passing a “quarantine line” across railroad tracks was injured by the negligence of the railroad company within a few feet of the line, and where the company knew of his presence, the jury are authorized to find that he was upon the premises of the defendant by invitation or right (Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Goulding, 52 Fla. 327, 42 South. 854), and where employes of a city are required by their duty to go upon the premises of ‘ another in the performance of certain duties imposed upon them, such employes are entitled to maintain an action for damages resulting from injuries 'occasioned by the negligent failure of the owner to keep his premises in a reasonably safe condition (Finnegan v. Fall River Gas Works Co., 159 Mass. 311, 34 N. E. 523; Toomey v. Sanborn, 146 Mass. 28, 14 N. E.

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Bluebook (online)
1917 OK 177, 164 P. 110, 63 Okla. 187, 1917 Okla. LEXIS 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-i-m-s-r-co-v-cantrell-okla-1917.