Sims v. Roy
Sims v. Roy
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court:
The modern rule is to the effect that where personal property is placed in the hands of a bailee for hire in good condition, and it is injured or destroyed while in his custody, under circumstances ordinarily inconsistent with the exercise of due care, and there is nothing to rebut the inference arising from the circumstances, the loss may fairly be found to have been occasioned by negligence. In other words, the facts of the occurrence, unexplained, warrant the inference of negligence, and call for explanation from the bailee, because he alone is in a position to make it. Jackson v. McDonald, 70 N. J. L. 594, 57 Atl. 126, 15 Am. Neg. Rep. 611; Collins v. Bennett, 46 N. Y. 490, 1 Am. Neg. Cas. 696; Davis v. A. O. Taylor & Son, 92 Neb. 769, 139 N. AV. 687; Hackney v. Perry, 152 Ala. 626, 44 So. 1029; Hunter v. Ricke Bros. 127 Iowa, 108, 102 N. W. 826, 18 Am. Neg. Rep. 68; Hildebrand v. Carroll, 106 Wis. 324, 80 Am. St. Rep. 29, 82 N. W. 145; The Genessee, 70 C. C. A. 613, 138 Fed. 549. But this rule in no way changes the burden of proof, for, when all the evidence is in, the preponderance must be with the plaintiff. Sweeney v. Erving, 228 U. S. 233, 57 L. ed. 815, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 416; Sullivan v. Capital Traction Co. 34 App. D. C. 358.
Here, however, the plaintiff did not rest his case upon the fact that property placed in the defendant’s custody in good condition was injured in such a way as to be inconsistent with due care on the part of the defendant, but introduced
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- Bailment; Res Ipsa Loquitur; Evidence; Burden of Proof; Instructions. 1. The modern rule is to the effect that where personal property is placed in the hands of a bailee for hire in good condition, and it is injured or destroyed while in his custody under circumstances ordinarily inconsistent witu the exercise of due care, and there is nothing to rebut the inference arising from the circumstances, the loss may fairly be found to have been occasioned by the bailee’s negligence; but this rule in no way relieves the bailor of the burden of establishing his case by a fair preponderance of the evidence. (Citing Sullivan v. Capital Traction Co. 34 App. D. C. 358.) 2. An instruction in an action against the proprietor of a livery stable for injury to a horse in his possession under a boarding contract, which states that the defendant’s duty was that of an ordinarily prudent man, and that if the horse, when delivered to him was in a sound condition, the burden of proof is on the defendant to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the injury resulted from no want of care on his part,—is not reversible error where the plaintiff did not rest his case upon the fact that the property was placed in the defendant’s custody, and was injured under circumstances inconsistent with due care, but introduced evidence tending to show negligence, and such’ evidence was not controverted by the defendant, thus making it a question for the jury whether, under the undisputed facts, the defendant had exercised due care.