St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Mayfield

79 S.W. 365, 35 Tex. Civ. App. 82, 1904 Tex. App. LEXIS 344
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 3, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 79 S.W. 365 (St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Mayfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Co. v. Mayfield, 79 S.W. 365, 35 Tex. Civ. App. 82, 1904 Tex. App. LEXIS 344 (Tex. Ct. App. 1904).

Opinion

NEILL, Associate Justice.

This suit was brought by the appellee against appellant to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been inflicted by the negligence of the railway company. Appellee’s petition contained two counts. In the first it was alleged in substance that on the 29th day of June, 1901, appellee boarded one of appellant’s freight trains at Commerce, Texas, paid his fare from there to Neyland station, and thereby became a passenger on said train, with the right to be carried and treated as a passenger and safely put off at his destination. That when the train was nearing Neyland appellee was directed by the conductor to stand on the, steps of the caboose and to alight when it slowed up; that he took his position oh the steps as ordered and as the train slowed up and he was endeavoring to alight, appellant, with knowledge of his dangerous position, negligently and -willfully caused the car on which he was riding to be suddenly and violently jerked, whereby he, was thrown off, knocked insensible, his right foot run over and so mashed and mangled by the car wheels as to necessitate its amputation, to his damage in the sum of $10,000.

The second count, after alleging appellee’s fall from and injury by being run over by the train, alleged in substance that he resided near Neyland, where there were skilled and competent surgeons prepared to give him necessary surgical attention and treatment; that he had numerous friends there who desired to take charge of him and carry him home *83 and secure him the proper surgical attention and relieve him from his pain and suffering. But that appellant acting through its servants and agents in charge.of said train, with knowledge of such facts, took charge of him immediately after his injuries, and, over Ms protest and against' his will, placed him on the train and carried him to the town of Green-ville, a distance of ten miles from ISTeyland, and then took him from the train and left him on appellant’s platform alone among strangers in a helpless and almost insensible condition, where he remained an hour, until by chance one of his friends in Greenville carried him to his house where he remained until about 1 o’clock next morning, when his father, having learned of his injuries, came and carried him to his home near Neyland, arriving there about daylight, when surgical attention was first given to his injuries. That by reason of the unlawful and forcible taking charge of plaintiff against his will and carrying him to Greenville and leaving him helpless and alone as before stated, appellee’s physical • and mental pain arising from his injuries were greatly increased and prolonged for a period of about fifteen hours, to his damage in the sum of $5000.

Appellant answered by pleas of not guilty, contributory negligence, that appellee was a trespasser on its freight train when injured and therefore it owed no duty to furnish him medical or surgical treatment or care, and that if its conductor in charge of the train undertook to carry appellee from Heyland to Greenville, he did so without its authority or consent.

The case was tried before a jury to whom was submitted by the charge of the court the matters plead in each count of appellee’s petition, and a verdict was rendered on the second count in his favor for the sum of $825, upon which the judgment appealed from was entered.

This verdict necessarily involves a finding in favor of appellant on the first count in ap'pellee’s petition. In other words that he was a trespasser and not a passenger on appellant’s freight train, to whom the latter owed no duty save not to willfully or wantonly injure. Houston & T. C. Ry. Co. v. Moore, 49 Texas, 31. The evidence fully sustains such findings, for it shows that the rules of appellant prohibited and excluded passengers from being carried on its freight trains; that such rules were in force by the company, and it did not habitually permit passengers on such trains, and that appellee intruded himself upon the train without the knowledge or consent of appellant’s servants in charge of and operating it," and that his injuries, caused from falling off and being run over, were proximately caused by his own wrong.

If the fact, established by the verdict, that such injuries were not attributable to the negligence of appellant, but were the proximate result of appellee’s own negligence, appeared from the second count of the petition, it would be a matter of very grave doubt as to whether it shows any cause of action. If after an injury to a person for which a railway company is in no way responsible, the employes of the company forcibly and against his will take the injured party, place him on one of the com- *84 pony’s trains, carrying him away from his friends and home and leave him unattended and uncared for in the broiling sun on the platform of another station, it certainly could not be contended that such acts were done in the course of the employment or could fairly and reasonably be inferred from the circumstances to be within the authorized power of the railway’s servants. Such acts could only be considered as the malicious and wrongful acts of the employes unauthorized and unauthorizable by their employer, extending beyond and outside of the scope of any duty arising or that could arise or be inferred from any duties of their employment. The master is not answerable if the servant takes on himself, even in good faith, and meaning to further the master’s interest, to.do that which the master has no right to do, even if the facts were as his servant thinks them to be (Webb’s Pollock on Torts, 107); as-where the conductor of a passenger train stopped his train, pursued a hoy on foot into the house of the boy’s father with pistol in his hand, and seized and carried him off on the train. Gillian v. S. & N. A. Ry. Co., 70 Ala.,. 268.

This much, in view of another trial, we have deemed it proper to say in reference to the second count in the petition, though its sufficiency is not called in question by any of appellant’s assignments.

The evidence shows that appellee at Eeyland, in his effort to get off one of appellant’s freight trains in motion, upon which he was a trespasser, fell, and his right foot was thrown under the car wheels and was mashed and mangled and that he was otherwise seriously injured; that he resided a mile and a half or two miles from the place where he received his injuries; that upon his fall, the train was stopped and the conductor, for the purpose of having his injuries treated by the company’s surgeon at Greenville, which was about ten miles from Eeyland, placed him on the train and carried him there, where he put him off at the depot and endeavored to find the compafiy’s surgeon in order to have his wounds treated; that his surgeon being temporarily absent could not be found, and the conductor not being able to secure the services of another surgeon without his pay being in some way secured, wired the company’s superintendent as follows: “There was a negro beating his way on ETo. 15 to-day" claiming his home at Eeyland. Went to get off the train, fell under and got his right foot crushed. I picked him up and brought him to Greenville as there was no medical aid there.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pratley v. Sherwin-Williams Co. of Texas
56 S.W.2d 510 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1933)
Wiess v. Gordon
209 S.W. 486 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1919)
Gulf, C. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Besser
181 S.W. 253 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1915)
Kansas City, M. & O. Ry. Co. of Texas v. Walsh
148 S.W. 347 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1912)
State v. Miller
122 P. 1066 (Washington Supreme Court, 1912)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
79 S.W. 365, 35 Tex. Civ. App. 82, 1904 Tex. App. LEXIS 344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-southwestern-railway-co-v-mayfield-texapp-1904.