Clayton v. Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad

Citations

• 30 Del. 343
• 7 Boyce 343
• 106 A. 577
• 1919 Del. LEXIS 35

Syllabus

<p>1. Carriers—Carriage of Passengers—“Negligence.”</p> <p>In action against railroad for injuries to a passenger through the negligence of its conductor in telling her to get off the train, supposedly at a station, plaintiff cannot recover, unless her injuries were caused by the negligence of the railroad, “negligence” being want of ordinary care, such as an ordinarily prudent and careful person would use under like circumstances, including knowledge of plaintiff’s physical and mental condition.</p> <p>2. Carriers—Injury to Passengers—Negligence—Burden of Proof.</p> <p>Negligence of a railroad toward a passenger is never presumed, but must be proved, and the burden of proving it is on the passenger suing for injuries.</p> <p>3. Carriers—Injury to Passengers—Proximate Cause.</p> <p>Even though a railroad was negligent, its passenger cannot recover against it unless the negligence was the cause of the injury complained of.</p> <p>4. Carriers—Injury to Passengers—Accident.</p> <p>Injury to a passenger from a pure accident without negligence on the part of a railroad is not actionable.</p> <p>5. Carriers—Injury to Passengers—Contributory Negligence.</p> <p>If injuries to a passenger in alighting, supposedly at destination, were caused by her own negligence or want of ordinary care contributing to the accident, she cannot recover from the road, even though it also was negligent.</p> <p>6. Carriers—Passengers—Knowledge of Feeble Condition.</p> <p>If a railroad had knowledge of its aged female passenger’s feeble condition, it was under duty to exercise such care toward her as her condition reasonably required, but, if it had no such knowledge, it was not required to use greater care.</p> <p>7. Carriers—Passengers—Disability—Duty to Use Care.</p> <p>An aged woman passenger, whatever the railroad’s knowledge of her enfeebled condition, was not released from duty to exercise care in leaving the train, but was required to use all her senses and avoid all the danger she could