Bailey v. Lehigh Valley Railroad

Citations

• 220 Pa. 516
• 69 A. 998
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 807

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Walking on tracks — Track repairman — Contributory negligence — Nonsuit.</p> <p>No damages can be recovered from a railroad company for the death of one of its track repairmen, where it appears that the deceased after the end of his working day, started to walk to his home on one of the tracks of the railroad, although there was another and safer route, but a longer one, and was killed, without anyone seeing the accident, by being struck by the tender of an engine which was running rapidly backward and westward on the eastbound track.</p> <p>Such a case is within the rule that a railroad company has the right to the exclusive possession of its tracks, except at crossings, and that a person who enters upon .the tracks at any other point than at such crossings, is guilty of negligence per se. The fact that the deceased was an employee of the company, and that for several years he had used the tracks to reach his home, is immaterial.</p> <p>The fact that a person makes frequent use of a railroad track by walking along it longitudinally at a point where the company has the right to the exclusive possession of it, cannot be construed to mean consent to such use by the company. In the absence of evidence showing permission to use its tracks, the necessity for the exclusive use by the company in the operation of its trains, excludes any presumption of the company’s consent to its use for any other purpose.</p>