Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Smith
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
In the late afternoon on a cold day in January, 1910, the appellee, accompanied by her little daughter, went to the Poplar street station of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company in Memphis, Tenn., to take a train over that road which departed at 5:15 o’clock to her home in Clarksdale, Miss. There is a train shed at this station, used by both the Illinois Central Railroad and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad, and there is a railing which separates the train from the other part of the station, where passengers wait for their trains. A gate is provided in this railing, and it is only through it that passengers can go to the trains. An employee of both railroads, known as the gatekeeper, stands at this gate, ex-' amines the tickets of the passengers passing through, and directs them to the proper train. On the date named, appellee presented her ticket to the gatekeeper, who examined it, and directed her to the train he said she was to take. She went to the train to which she was directed, • still exhibiting the ticket, which entitled her to passage from Memphis to Clarksdale, and which, was sold and issued to her by appellant. She was placed on the train by a man dressed in a uniform standing by the side of the car, and whom she understood to be one of the employees on the train. She was asked by the trainman the question, “Where to?” and she answered, “Clarksdale.” After the train had left Memphis, she was informed by the conductor that she was not on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley train for Clarksdale, but on the Grenada accommodation train of the Illinois Central. This train left Memphis at five o’clock p. m. In order to get to her home in Clarksdale, she had to return to Memphis. At Bates-ville, Miss., she left the train going to Grenada, and was
Appellant contends that the error committed by the trial court was in refusing instruction No. 4, asked by appellant, which is as follows: “The court instructs the jury, for the defendant, that if they believe from the evidence that plaintiff’s throat became sore and that she suffered therefrom, and that the same was caused by the car of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, on which she returned from Batesville to Memphis, being cold, they will not allow her any damages therefor, because the jury cannot allow this plaintiff any damages, unless the same were the proximate result of a negligent or wrongful act of some agent or employee of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company.” We do not think that the court erred in refusing this instruction. In fact, a review of the instructions given in this ease convinces us that the law was properly and sufficiently presented to the jury in the instructions given for both the plaintiff and defendant. A review of all the facts in this case, taken together, in
It is well-nigh impossible to fix any definite rule on the subject of proximate cause. Each case, as arises, presents a somewhat different state of facts from others.. Therefore, in the present case, the facts were presented to the jury with a fair and sufficient statement of the general rules of law applicable, and from all these a jury rendered its decision. In-the case of Telephone Company v. Woodham, 99 Miss. 318, 54 South. 890, touching the question of the liability of a defendant where his negligence combines with that of another, or with any other independent intervening cause, this court, speaking through Smith, J., said: “In order that a person may be liable for damages resulting from his negligence, it is not necessary that his negligence should have been the sole cause of the injury. His negligence may be the proximate cause, where it concurs with one or more causes in producing an injury, and although the author, or authors, of such cause, or causes, may also be liable therefor.”
It will be noted in this case that appellee became the passenger of appellant when she purchased her ticket and went into appellant’s station, that she was thereupon
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Company v. Mrs. M. A. Smith
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Railroads. Injuries to passengers. Proximate cause. Instructions. Where two railroads occupied a Union Depot and, before a passenger could embark on the trains of either road, it was necessary for her to exhibit her ticket to the gatekeeper who directed her which train to take, and plaintiff having purchased a ticket from defendant exhibited the same to the gatekeeper and was directed to take the wrong train and was carried away from her destination and, in returning to the point of her departure on the other road in order to get home, the cars of the other road were so poorly heated that she contracted tonsilitis and suffered greatly. In such case an instruction that if plaintiff contracted the tonsilitis on account of the poorly heated cars of the other road she could not recover from defendant, was properly refused, it being a question for the ■ • jury whether the damages resulting from the cold ears of the other road on plaintiff’s return to her point of departure was the proximate result of the failure of defendant’s gatekeeper to direct her to the proper train. 2. Carriers. Damages. Proximate cause. In order that a person may be liable for damages resulting from his negligence it is not necessary that his negligence should hare been the sole cause of the injury. His negligence -may be the proximate cause, where it concurs with one or more causes in producing an injury, and although the author or authors of such cause or causes may also be liable therefor. 3. Carriers. Degree of care required towards passengers. A carrier is required to exercise the highest degree of care and attention in directing a passenger who has purchased a ticket and gone into its station, as to which train to take to reach her destination.