Ball v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.

Citations

• 102 Wash. 668
• 173 P. 1029
• 1918 Wash. LEXIS 1030

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant—Injuries to Servant—Safe Place—Bridges —Clearance. In an action for the death of a brakeman, struck by a railroad bridge while leaning out to inspect a hot box, a railroad company is not negligent in maintaining the bridge with a clearance of only two feet, where that was the standard construction and employees were not required to be upon the side of the cars or engines when passing over the bridge.</p> <p>Same—Injuries to Servant—Defective Locomotives. In ah action for the death of a brakeman, struck by a railroad bridge while leaning out to inspect a hot box, evidence that the engine was leaking steam to such an extent as to obscure the deceased’s view of the bridge, and that it began to leak steam shortly after leaving the roundhouse and the condition became worse as the trip progressed, is sufficient to take the ease to the jury upon- the question of negli-. gence in the operation of an engine in a defective condition, and whether that was the proximate cause of the death.</p> <p>Same—Injuries to Servant—Duty to Warn. In such a case, the failure of the engineer to warn the deceased when the train was approaching the bridge, was not negligence, where there was no negligence in failing to sooner discover his position, and as soon as it was discovered the engineer called to him and attempted to stop the train.</p>