Illinois Central Railroad v. McLeod
Illinois Central Railroad v. McLeod
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Mr. McLeod hired an open carriage, two horses, and a driver to transport him from Winona to Stafford’s Well and back. The driver was a good, safe driver, and had been in service as such for a number of years. The horses were gentle in single harness, but he had never before driven them double. They were fast roadsters for a livery stable team. It took about forty minutes to drive to the well, and the same time to return to Winona, and they remained at the. well only about fifteen minutes. On returning they went west to the railroad, and at a point seventy-eight feet from the railroad’s eastern iron rail to the center of the public road upon which thejr were traveling, in broad daylight, in an open vehicle, they had to, and did, drive through a lane made by a wire fence between them and the railroad right of way,, which wire fence was on the right of way, fifty feet from the center of the railroad track on their west, and a plantation fence on their east, for a distance of three hundred
Mr. McLeod gave the driver no directions at all, and in no way interfered with his management of the team. From the facts so put, it is too plain for controversy that, if the driver had been the party killed, no court would have permitted recovery. Recognizing this palpably clear proposition, the effort of appellees is to put Mr. McLeod in a different category, on the theory that the driver’s negligence cannot be imputed to him, since he was merély the hirer of the driver, the vehicle,
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Elizabeth A. McLeod
- Cited By
- 18 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Negligencia. Contributory neyOigence. Passenger in carriage. Drwer. One being driven in a carriage by another cannot recover for damages received because of the negligence of a third party, where the palpable negligence of the driver contributed to the injury, and the party injured was himself guilty of negligence in not taking action to check the driver or remonstrate with him, having opportunity to do so and the danger being apparent. 2. Same. Railroads. Crossings. A lack of ordinary care by a person who is injured by a collision with a railroad train at a crossing, will prevent his recovery from the railroad company, although the engineer was negligent in not sounding an alarm for the crossing.