Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Lacy

Citations

• 78 Kan. 622
• 97 P. 1025
• 1908 Kan. LEXIS 119

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Personal Injuries — Wanton Negligence — Evidence—Proximate Cause. Plaintiff’s intestate was- riding in the caboose of a freight-train, with the permission of the conductor, but without having paid or. offering to pay any fare, and under such circumstances that the railway company ow.ed him no duty except not to injure him wilfully or wantonly. While the train to which the caboose was attached was standing at a station, in the daytime, a freight-train following ran into the caboose, demolishing it, and the deceased received injuries from which he died. In an action against the railway company to recover for his wrongful death, on the ground that the injury was caused by the reckless and wanton negligence of the company’s employees, held: (1) That the fact that a collision occurred is not prima facie evidence that it was caused by reckless or wanton negligence. In such a case, before the railway company can be held liable, there must be some fact or circumstance in evidence from which the natural and reasonable inference arises that the injury was caused by the reckless or wanton negligence of the employees of the company. (2) The evidence in this case examined and held not sufficient to justify a recovery on the ground that the injury was caused by the reckless or wanton negligence of the employees of the defendant. (3) Upon the findings of the jury that the engineer of the second train saw the first train standing on the track at the station when his train was more than a mile and a half distant, no recovery can be based upon the failure of the crew in charge of the forward train to send back a flagman to warn the rear train, as such failure could not have been the proximate cause of the injury.</p>