Ainsley v. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.

Citations

• 243 Pa. 437
• 90 A. 129
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 642

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Railroads—Vice-principal— Conductor — Braheman—Scope of duties — Contributory negligence —Case for jury.</p> <p>1. A conductor, having entire control and management of a railway train, occupies a very different position from the brakemen, the porters, and other subordinates employed. He is in fact, and should be treated as, the personal representative of the corporation, for whose negligence it is responsible to subordinate servants. The latter are fellow servants in the running of the train under his direction and as to them and the train he stands in the place of and represents the corporation.</p> <p>2. Under the rules of a railroad company 'providing that the conductor is “responsible for the movement, safety and proper care of a train, and for the vigilance and conduct of the men employed thereon” and that a brakeman while on duty was “under the direction of the conductor” the conductor comes within the plain words of the Act of June 10, 1907, P. L. 523, as a person to whose orders the brakeman is “bound to conform.”</p> <p>3. A brakeman subject to a rule of the company making it his duty to attend to the brakes “and also subject to the orders of the conductor” is within the scope of his prescribed duties when at the direction of the latter he attempts to make an inspection of a defective brake by getting on the lower step of the platform of a car while the train is in motion.</p> <p>4. In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while he was in the employ of the defendant company as a brakeman on a passenger train, the case is for the jury and a verdict for the plaintiff will be sustained where it appears that while the train was in motion it was discovered that something was wrong with one of the brakes; that the conductor of the train ordered the plaintiff to open the trap door on the platform and go down on the lower step for the purpose of locating the brak