Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. DuBose
Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. DuBose
Opinion of the Court
DuBose and Holliday each brought suit against the railroad company for damages growing out of alleged injuries described in their respective petitions. DuBose obtained a verdict for $200, and Holliday one for $60. The cases were tried separately in the court below, but were argued together here, as both grew out of the same transaction and are controlled by the samé principles of law. In each case the railroad company excepts to the overruling of its demurrer to the petition, and to the
These facts, which are made to appear from the undisputed evidence, do not, in our opinion, show any right on the part of the plaintiffs to recover damages. The train upon which the plaintiffs rode from Washington to the scene of the wreck was in no sense a regular passenger-train, — indeed it was neither regular nor passenger. -.Its sole purpose was to meet an emergency with which the employees of the defendant were confronted. This fact was well known to the plaintiffs. The defendant was under no obligation to transport them on this train at all. There is nothing in the evidence to show that they were on the train by the invitation of the conductor. On the contrary they sought him out and requested him to allow them to ride on the train, demonstrating that they recognized that, he was under no obligation to do so. Nor can it be successfully contended that the defendant is liable to the plaintiffs for the violation of the verbal contract alleged to have been made with them by the conductor to allow them to return on the train when it should come back to Washington. It is true, as a general proposition, that a person on a train may rely on the undertakings of the conductor within his implied authority; but in the present case the plaintiffs were well aware that an emergency existed which had deranged all regular business on this branch of the defendant’s road, and which was liable to upset any
Reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.