Barlick v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 41 Pa. Super. 87
• 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 16

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Passengers—Acts o/ passengers.</p> <p>1. Carriers of passengers are liable only for negligence, and are not insurers of the safety of their passengers, as they are as carriers of goods. The burden is upon the passenger who seeks to recover from a carrier damages for personal injuries sustained while upon his journey to prove negligence or facts from which a presumption of negligence arises.</p> <p>2. The act of a passenger in tossing through the open window of a car an empty bottle, the accidental breaking of such bottle against a car upon another track, and the unfortunate return of a fragment of glass through another open window injuring another passenger, is in no way connected with the appliances or machinery used in the operation of the road, or the acts of the employees in the conduct of the train, or with the construction of the road, and, therefore, there is no presumption of negligence on the part of the railroad company. In such a case the burden is upon the injured passenger to prove by affirmative evidence that the defendant company or its employees had been guilty of negligence which was responsible for the injury.</p> <p>3. The carrier is not liable for the negligent or unlawful act of a passenger, which may result in an injury to a fellow passenger, upon the principle of respondeat superior. The carrier is, however, liable for injuries to a passenger resulting from the negligent or unlawful acts of a fellow passenger if prior to the accident the conduct of the offending party has been such as to indicate a disposition to indulge in physically violent conduct and give rise to a reasonable apprehension of injury to other parties. This is not upon the ground that the company is Hable to answer for the acts of all those whom it undertakes to carry, but it is because of the failure of the duty to afford reasonable and proper protection to other passengers.</p> <p>4. The carrier is not bound to provide against contingencies which i