Chicago & Alton Railroad v. Kerr

Citations

• 148 Ill. 605
• 35 N.E. 1117

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence—master and servant—duty in respect of railroad truck as to servants, and also as to passengers. As to its employes and servants a railway company must, as a general rule, exercise all reasonable care and diligence to place its road-bed, track and structures in a safe condition, and keep them so. But as to its passengers it is to be held to the highest degree of care in that regard.</p> <p>2. Same—instructions as to degree of care to protect servants. In an action by a fireman against a railway company to recover for a personal injury resulting from a defect in the railroad track, it will be error to instruct the jury, “as a matter of law, that a railway company owes the duty to its employes to do all that human care, vigilance and foresight ■can do, consistently with the practical operation of its road, in providing a safe road, road-bed, tracks, ties and rails, and to keep the same in repair,’’ as it requires too strict a rule, and a higher degree of care than that required by the law.</p> <p>3. A railroad company is not bound to furnish absolutely safe machinery for its employes. The law only imposes on such a company the obligation to use reasonable and ordinary care and diligence in providing suitable and safe machinery, tracks and switches, etc., for the use of those engaged in its service. The case of Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Railway Co. v. Conroy, 68 Ill. 560, in so far as it requires a. greater degree of care than is here stated, is overruled.</p> <p>4. Same—failure of railway company to give its servants notice of unsafe condition of its track. In an action by a fireman of a railway company against the company for a personal injury by being thrown from the engine, if the unsafe condition of the defendant’s track is-shown, and knowledge of that fact is admitted by the company’s superintendent, the plaintiffs right to recover will not depend upon the degree of care the defendant is required to exercise in providing a safe track, and the defe