Washington v. Raleigh & Gaston Railroad
Washington v. Raleigh & Gaston Railroad
Opinion of the Court
(after stating the case.) The exceptions are intende 1 to comprehend all the instructions which, when requested, the Court declined to give, and such as were given outside of them without a specification of the errors they are supposed to contain.
In our opinion the charge was quite as favorable to the defendant as its counsel could reasonably require, and in some particulars more so. But as the plaintiff, having secured a verdict, does not complain, we shall not review them.
The principal contention, and to this central inquiry the -various matters in controversy all tend, is as to the scope and effect of the contract for the excursion beyond .the defendant’s own line, and its liability for the consequences of negligence upon another connectiug line.
While it is true that an arrangement entered into among roads, which by their union form a route between distant termini to facilitate transportation, each acting as forwarding agent for the others at their points of connection, does not, of itself, and especially when the common liability is disclaimed in the freight bill or passenger ticket, render each liable for the default of the other, as is held in Phifer v. Railroad, 89 N. C., 314; Weinberg v. Railroad, 91 N. C., 31; Knott v. Railroad, 98 N. C., 73; it is not less well settled that where there is a special contract to transport to a point beyond the contracting company’s line, the companies, whose services are required in the execution of the contract, become an agency, severally, of the first in fulfilling its terms and giving it effect.
In a note to the case of Queenby v. Vanderbilt, quoted from 17 N. Y., 306, in Thompson, Carriers of Passengers, at page 423, in which it is decided that one of several connecting
A single charge is made for the whole trip, and the train is to pass over both roads in reaching the agreed terminus— the defined conditions attached to the entire route — a separate arrangement is made between the two companies for the carriage bj" the Warrenton company, over its short line, and a price stipulated to be paid by the other for this necessary service. Besides these evidences of the common understanding of the contract, its terms are direct and specific themselves, and as the defendant agreed to run the train to Warrenton, necessarily it must make some arrangement with the other line in order to fulfill it.
The defendant’s liability, therefore, commensurate with their agreement, covers the entire transportation, and the Warrenton company and its agents become pro hac vice the defendant’s agents in consummating it.
It was, therefore, entirely proper to charge in the complaint the disaster, as proceeding from the defendant’s negligence, the negligence of the employees being in law the negligence of the employer.
We find no error, and must affirm the judgment.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GRAY WASHINGTON v. RALEIGH & GASTON RAILROAD COMPANY
- Status
- Published