Marshall & E. T. Ry. Co. v. Riden
Marshall & E. T. Ry. Co. v. Riden
Opinion of the Court
On October 18, 1915, C. M. Riden, a conductor in the service of the appellant, was injured in a railroad wreck resulting from a derailment of the train on which he was riding. A short time after-wards he died as a result of those injuries. This suit was instituted by his widow and minor child and his father and mother for damages. A trial before a jury resulted in a judgment against appellant for $21,000, which was apportioned as follows: To the widow, $7,000; to the minor son, $13,000; and to the father aDd mother, $1,000.
The facts show that the train was on its return trip from Winnsboro to Marshall, and while rounding a curve the trucks under one *1164 of the coaches- left the track, which derailed the train while passing over a trestle.
Complaint is made of the following portions of the court’s charge:
“(12) You are instructed that, where a personal injury is sustained by an employé of a railroad corporation, and such injury is caused by the negligence of such corporation, the plea of assumed risk shall not be available as a defense by said corporation when the ground of such plea is knowledge, or means of knowledge, by the injured party of the defect, if any, which caused the injury, provided the employer or master, or the employe’s superior, intrusted by the master with the authority to remedy or cause to be remedied such defect, if any, also knows of such defect, and in such, cases the employe is not required to report the defect, if any, to his employer or superior.
“(13) You are therefore instructed that, although you believe from the evidence that the trucks under the passenger coaches, or either of said coaches, were defective, and that such defect was known to deceased, Clifton M. Riden, he did not assume the risk or become guilty of contributory negligence in remaining in the employ of the defendant company, if you believe that his superiors or employers, whose duty it was to repair and maintain the said trucks, also knew of their defective condition, and had promised, or impliedly promised, to remedy said defects.
“(14) On the contrary, if the defendant, or its employés intrusted with, the duty of maintaining its trucks, in the exercise of ordinary care to perform their duty, did not know of such defect at the time that the deceased was injured, and you believe from the evidence that deceased did know of such defect and had an opportunity before being hurt or injured to inform the defendant, or such agents as were charged with the duty of maintaining and repairing said trucks, of their defective condition, if they were defective, and that the failure on his part to report such condition was negligence, and you further believe that a person of ordinary care, under the same or similar circumstances, with a knowledge of such defects, if any, and the danger incident thereto, would not have continued in the service of the defendant company, then you will find for the defendant.”
These different paragraphs were objected to substantially upon the ground that the issue of contributory negligence resulting from the known defective condition of the trucks was ignored. The thirteenth paragraph is objected to upon the further ground that there was not evidence of an express or implied promise to repair the defect; and the fourteenth paragraph is objected to upon the ground that it placed too great a burden upon the railway company.
There are other assignments of error based upon the refusal of the court to give a number of special charges. We have examined all of these special charges, and deem it unnecessary to discuss them in detail. Some of them are sufficiently covered by portions of the court’s general charge, and the others are either inapplicable or erroneous.
The judgment is affirmed.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- MARSHALL & E. T. RY. CO. v. RIDEN Et Al.
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