Texas Midland R. R. v. Monroe
Texas Midland R. R. v. Monroe
Opinion of the Court
Appellee sued appellant for damages for personal injuries alleged to have been received on the cars of appellant at the hands of appellant’s conductor while the conductor was exhibiting his pistol to appellee and another passenger, and which he negligently discharged, thereby wounding ap-pellee in the leg and causing him the injury and suffering claimed in his pleading. The appellant pleaded that if appellee was injured he contributed thereto for the reason that said pistol when discharged was being exhibited to appellee upon his specific request that the conductor demonstrate its mechanism; and further that the appellee assumed the risks incident to such demon-tration. By supplemental petition appellant alleged that if he did request appellee to demonstrate the mechanism of the pistol, which was denied, he nevertheless was unaware that the pistol was loaded, while the conductor by the exercise of reasonable care could have ascertained such fact, and that his failure to do so and the pointing of this pistol toward appellee was negligence. The case was tried by jury, and verdict was for appellee for $3,000, followed by judgment of the court accordingly, from which the appeal is taken.
The material facts upon which the suit is based disclose that appellee is a traveling salesman and at the time of his injury was a passenger upon appellant’s cars en route from Greenville to Cooper; that when ap-pellee boarded the cars at Greenville, Ed Riley, of that place, also became a passenger; that appellee and Riley desired to discuss some business matters and one or the other asked permission of the conductor on the train to enter the rear coach of the train which was locked and contained no passengers, which was granted and the coach door unlocked by the conductor; that some time after appellee and Riley entered the coach the conductor also entered, and whereupon appellee either inquired of the conductor concerning an automatic pistol which appel-lee knew the conductor owned, or the conductor inquired of appellee if he had bought for his own use a similar one (appellee testifying that the conductor introduced the subject of the pistol, while the conductor and Riley testified that appellee did so); that the conductor, who was armed with the pistol in anticipation of trouble with passengers who had refused to pay fare, informed appellee he did have the pistol; that either appellee or Riley requested permission to see it, and whereupon the conductor, who at this point was on his knees in the seat immediately in front of Riley and appellee, took the pistol from his pocket and handed it to appellee, so the conductor and Riley testify, but which is disputed by appellee, who testified that he handed it to Riley; that the conductor either before handing the pistol to appellee or Riley, or after receiving same back from them, thought he had removed the clip containing the cartridges or had attempted to do so ; that after the examination by appellee and Riley, the conductor, according to appellee’s testimony, volunteered to demonstrate how the safety on the pistol, *975 which was an “automatic,” operated, while, according to tire conductor and Riley, appel-lee inquired of the conductor how the “safety worked,” and whereupon the conductor, according to Riley, and which' the conductor does not dispute, with the pistol in his hand, said, “When the safety is in this position you can’t fire it,” and pulled the trigger to show it would not snap, and then remarked, “When it (the safety) is not in position— ” but before finishing the sentence the pistol exploded and injured appellee. Appellee’s version of the accident is that the conductor merely remarked, “Here is the way she works,” and then the explosion resulted, while the conductor’s theory is that, while his finger was on the button which “worked” the safety, his hand slipped, and he accidentally pulled the trigger. It is conceded by all the witnesses that the most that was requested or volunteered was a demonstration of the safety, and that the operation or demonstration of the safety is wholly disconnected with the trigger of the pistol, and that the mechanism which works the safety does not and cannot fire the pistol.
It is settled law in this state that carriers of passengers are not responsible for wrongs done to passengers by servants acting in their own interest and not in that of the employer. Railway Co. v. Bush, 133 S. W. 245, 32 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1201. It is •equally well settled that it is also the duty ¡of the .carrier to protect its passengers, in so far as it may be done by the exercise, of a high degree of care, from the violence and insults of its servants, other passengers, and strangers. Railway Co. v. Luther, 40 Tex. Civ. App. 517, 90 S. W. 44. The facts in the instant case, however, are dissimilar to any we have been able to find in any case from -our own courts. The accidental shooting of appellee was not an assault or violence in the sense that those terms are ordinarily used in the adjudicated eases. It does-appear,'however, that the conductor, in anticipation of trouble with passengers who had in the past insisted upon riding in appellant’s ■ cars without paying the fare therefor, armed himself with a pistol, and that when he did •so it was to enforce the rules and regulations of appellant, and that he was to that extent acting within the scope of his employment. We also think that when he thus armed himself he was charged in the exercise of a high degree of care with the duty of protecting his employer’s passengers from all danger that might reasonably result from his use or handling of the pistol in the same manner that he is required to protect them in all other respects. The evidence sustains the charge of negligence in the handling of the pistol, and, since the conductor was armed with the pistol in order to protect himself in the discharge of the duties of his employment, it results as a corollary that such negligence shall be attributed to his employer, unless, as appellant sought to have the court below- instruct the jury, the shooting was an accident not arising from any negligence of the appellant and the risk of which appellee assumed. As stated at another place in this opinion, the testimony was not of such character as, in our opinion, to" bring the acts of the conductor within the rule stated. For the reasons stated above, the third assignment will also be overruled.
The judgment of the court below is affirmed.
Reference
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- Texas Midland R. R. v. Monroe.
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