Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. v. Smith

Mississippi Supreme Court October 15, 1890

Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. v. Smith, 68 Miss. 359 (Miss. 1890)

Campbell

Opinion of the Court

Campbell, J.,

delivered the ojnnion of the court.

The verdict should have been for the defendant, and the court should have so directed the jury. All that the plaintiff testified to was admitted by the engineer who testified for the defendant, and there is no conflict of any kind in the evidence, and no semblance of ground for doubting that the colt came on the track just in front of the engine, and was killed and carried seventy-five or one hundred yards from where he was first struck. In this state of *361case there was no liability for the death of the colt. Either the engineer testified falsely or there was no blame as to the death of the animal. There is nothing to suggest a doubt as to the truthfulness of the engineer’s account, and there was nothing for the jury to pass on.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name: Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. Co. v. G. L. Smith
Status: Published
Syllabus: Railroads. Negligence. Killing stock. Where the engineer testifies that a oolt, for killing which plaintiff sues, came on the track less than fifty feet before his engine and was not seen by him until struck, although he was at his post and on the look-out, and there is nothing to contradict his statement, a verdict should be directed for the defendant.