Taylor v. Louisiana & N. W. R.
Taylor v. Louisiana & N. W. R.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit in damages for personal injury. The facts in connection with the liability of the defendants have already been stated in the ease of R. T. Ingram against the same defendants (No. 18,349, 55 South. 580,
Plaintiff is a colored laborer, 39 years old. His life expectancy is 32 years. He is uneducated; dependent upon his labor for earning a living. He has a wife and six children dependent upon him for support. One of his legs was crushed and had to be amputated at the knee joint. Before the wound
[-1] The defendant railroad company leased three miles of its road to the defendant lumber company, and the latter company subleased to the logging company. The train was being operated by the logging company, for carrying the logs of the lumber company. But the two companies are admitted to be practically.one and the same, the logging company being a mere subsidiary of the other, and may be dealt with accordingly. The lease contract between the railway company and the lumber company contains the following clause:
“The lumber company is to be responsible for all damages of whatsoever kind or character which may result from the operation of said locomotives and trains, motor and hand cars, while on the tracks of the railroad company, including injuries to employés of both lumber company and railroad company or to other persons, damages by fire, for stock injured or killed, or for any accident, wreck or collision.”
Under this clause, the railroad company contends that the lumber company is answerable over to the' railway company for whatever judgment may be rendered in this case against the railway company. There was an allegation and prayer to that effect in the railroad company’s answer, but there was no regular call in warranty or prayer for citation, and no issue was ever joined on that demand.
That the lessor railroad company is also liable in case its lessees are found to have been responsible for the injury and to be liable is not seriously contested, and is clear under the doctrine of the Muntz Case, 111 La. 423, 35 South. 624, 64 L. R. A. 222, 100 Am. St. Rep. 495.
The judgment of this court in the Ingram Case is conclusive on the question of liability to plaintiff.
For convenience of statement, we set aside in toto the judgment appealed from.
It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the plaintiff, William Taylor, have judgment against the defendants, Louisiana & Northwest Railroad Company, and Frost-Johnson Lumber Company, and the Prestige-Buchannan Logging Company in so-lido in the sum of $5,000, with 5 per cent, interest on $2,500 thereof from September 8, 1910 (date of the judgment of the lower court), and like interest on the remainder thereof from this date. And it is further ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the demand of the Louisiana & Northwest Railroad' Company against the Frost-Johnson Lumber Company be rejected as in ease of nonsuit.
128 La. 934.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- TAYLOR v. LOUISIANA & N. W. R. CO.
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- 3 cases
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- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) 1. Railroads (§ 259*) — Operation—-Companies Liable por Injuries. Where a railroad company leased a portion of its track to a lumber company, which subleased to a logging company, a workman injured by collision of a hand car on which he was riding with a train operated by the logging company carrying logs for the lumber company, for which injuries the lessees are liable, is also entitled to recover from the lessor. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Railroads, Cent. Dig. §§ 802-816; Dec. Dig. § 259.*] 2. Damages (§ 132*) — Inadequate Damages— Personal Injuries. Where an uneducated colored laborer, 39 years old, with a life expectancy of 32 years, dependent on his labor for earning a living, and having a wife and six children dependent on him for support, had one of his legs crushed, so that it had to he amputated at the knee, and before the wound of the amputation healed three abscesses developed, from which he suffered for more than three months, an award of [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Damages, Cent. Dig. §§ 178, 372-385; Dec. Dig. § 132.*] 3. Railroads (§ 266*) — Operation—Companies Liable eor Injuries. In an action against a railroad company and its lessees for injuries caused by operation of a train by one of the lessees, the judgment should be, not only against the railroad company, but against the railroad company and its lessees in solido. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Railroads, Dec. Dig. § 266.*] 4. Apbeal and Error (§ 359*) — Dismissal-Grounds. Where all the parties to a suit applied for appeals and their appeals were granted simultaneously, the fact that plaintiff perfected his appeal by giving bond last was not ground for dismissal of his appeal, on the theory that the appeals of the defendants having been perfected the lower court was divested of jurisdiction to grant an appeal to plaintiff. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Dee. Dig. § 359.*]