Chicago & Northwestern Railroad v. Ward

Citations

• 61 Ill. 130

Syllabus

<p>1. Railroad—employee—negligence of company—liability for injury. Where a railroad company are in the habit of constantly taking damaged cars from one station to another for repair, and a person is employed to couple and switch such cars, and while so engaged he is injured in attempting to couple a car to the train, by reason of the broken condition of the car: Held, that the presumption is that he undertook the employment subject to all of the risks incident to the place, and that this was one of the risks he expected to incur when he accepted the employment.</p> <p>2. Same—duty of company. It is the duty of a railroad company to furnish a safe road and safe machinery, and on failing to do so it,becomes liable for injury to an employee therefrom if he is ignorant of the defects, and therefore not contracting with reference to them. But that rule does not apply where the employment is for the purpose of assisting in hauling machinery that is defective, and the employee is injured when a defective car is on the way to the proper shops for repairs, and the existence of the defect implied no negligence on the part of the road.</p> <p>3. Same—negligence. If it had appeared clearly that it was the custom of the company to mark all damaged cars before sending them to the shop to be repaired, and that the marks used indicated that they were damaged, aud also the time, manner and person who made the mark, and this duty had been neglected, and the emph>3ree had been thereby thrown off his guard in coupling the car, then a different question might have been presented.</p> <p>4. Instruction—negligence. An instruction which informs the jury that the company is liable if the employee was injured whilst in the careful discharge of his duty, by a car being out of repair through the failure of the company to see that it was in repair, is wrong, as the car was being removed to the proper place expressly to be repaired, and the employee was in the discharge of the duty he engaged t