Cloud v. Kansas-Oklahoma Traction Co.

Citations

• 103 Kan. 249
• 173 P. 338
• 7 A.L.R. 1671
• 1918 Kan. LEXIS 236

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Common Carrier — Duty Oped to Passengers. “A carrier is bound to exercise the highest degree of care that is reasonably practical in safely carrying passengers and setting them down safely at their destinations.” (Lynch v. Railway Co., 92 Kan. 735, 142 Pac. 938, syl. 1.)</p> <p>'2. Same — Carrier Not Insurer of Safety of Passenger. But the carrier, is not an insurer of the safety of passengers, and an instruction. which charged that it is the duty of the carrier to provide for the safe entry and exit of its patrons to and from its cars is subject to criticism, because it makes the carrier the insurer of- the safety of the passenger.</p> <p>3. Same — Application of Doctrine of “Res Ipsa Loquitur.” The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is properly applied in case of injuries to a passenger caused by s derailment, the collision with another train, the breaking of a rail, or by some defect in the equipment of the train which the passenger is presumed to know nothing about, for the reason that he has no way of anticipating or ascertaining, 'either before or after the accident, what occasioned it. It has no application to a case where a passenger is injured by some defect in the floor of the car which is visible to the passenger, and which causes the passenger to fall while attempting to alight from the train at a station.</p> <p>•4. Same — Accident to Passenger — No Presumption of Carrier’s Negligence — Burden of Proof. In an action by a passenger of an' interurban railway to recover damages alleged to have been caused by a defect in the floor of the vestibule .of the car, in which her foot caught while she was in the act of alighting at a, station, it is error to charge that the happening of an accident resulting in injury to a passenger is prima facie evidence of negligence on the part of the carrier, and that “it will be incumbent upon the company or carrier to produce evidence which will excuse the prima facie failure' to do its duty.