Alexander v. Pennsylvania Railroad

Citations

• 7 Pa. Super. 183
• 1898 Pa. Super. LEXIS 265

Syllabus

<p>Common carriers — Duty of — Connecting roads.</p> <p>A common carrier is bound to exercise reasonable diligence in forwarding freight, having regard to its character and his facilities for transportation. That a connecting carrier to whom it is to be transferred may be unprepared to continue the transportation with due promptness does not excuse a neglect to observe such diligence. The obligation of the first carrier is in .no sense contingent on the readiness or ability of the second to act. in the premises.</p> <p>Common carriers — Due diligence — Question for jury.</p> <p>As to the ability or inability of a defendant carrier to forward freight with due promptness, nothing is to be assumed, and as there is no fixed standard by which his duty is to be measured it cannot be declared as a matter of law. When, therefore, cattle have been delayed en route, the questions whether they were forwarded with reasonable dispatch, and if not whether injury arose from default in transportation, or in the mode of keeping them while in the carrier’s care, become questions for the jury.</p>