Burton v. G., H. & S. A. R'y Co.

Citations

• 61 Tex. 526
• 1884 Tex. LEXIS 139

Syllabus

<p>1, Depositions.— Either party to a cause has a right to obtain the commission and take the deposition of a witness to whom interrogatories and cross-interrogatories have been propounded and filed, when notice of the intention to take the deposition has been given.</p> <p>8. Same. — The fact that the officer who took the deposition of a witness occupied the same room with an attorney for one of the parties, or that he was himself an attorney for one of the parties in other cases, affords no ground for suppressing the deposition.</p> <p>3. Damages — Master and servant — Railroad company. — In a suit against a railway company for damages caused from personal injuries inflicted by the alleged negligence of the employees on a railway train, it was shown that both the train and the road belonged to the company, though the road had not been formally received from the contractors who constructed it. The engineer, conductor and employees were, when the accident occurred, employed and paid by the company, and could be discharged on complaint of the contractor. Held:</p> <p>(1) That these facts, unexplained, would make the company liable for the negligence of the engineer and its other employees on the train.</p> <p>(2) That if the train was run by the company with its own employees, for the purpose of transporting construction material for the contractors, the company would be responsible to any one not an employee for injury received by the negligence of those operating the train, even though the contractors had the right to determine when, where and to what extent supplies should be transported, and to that extent had the control of the company’s ■train and employees.</p> <p>(3) It would seem that, even if the employees operating the train, who were employed and could be discharged by the company alone, were yet operating the train in transporting supplies according to the directions, and subject to the will, of the contractors, they would still be the servants of the co