Dobyns v. Yazoo & M. V. R.

Citations

• 119 La. 71
• 43 So. 934
• 1907 La. LEXIS 438

Syllabus

<p>1. Master and Servant&emdash;Injury to Employé&emdash;Negligence&emdash;Proximate Cause.</p> <p>Where a railroad employé, with a lighted iantern in his hand, being engaged in the discharge of his duties, is killed upon a dark night, at a terminal station, by being run over by a backing locomotive and tender, and it appears that there was no one on the rear of the tender (being the forward part of the machine as it moved) to keep a lookout, and neither headlight nor white lights, as required by the rules of the company, but, instead, a red light (or marker), as prohibited by such rules; that the fireman was engaged in _ supplj'ing fuel to the furnace; that the killing of the employs was not known until after he had been run over; and that the violation _ of the company’s rules involved in the handling of the locomotive in the manner described had been habitually tolerated by the company’s representatives in charge of the station, and was partly attributable to the failure of the company to furnish a yard engine and to furnish the lights required by such rules&emdash; the company will be held liable, in damages, notwithstanding that the employe who was killed may have been at fault, in being on the track, his fault being slight in comparison with that of the company, and the fault of the company being the proximate cause of the accident.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.&emdash;For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 34, Master and Servant, § 801.]</p> <p>2. Death&emdash;Damages&emdash;Elements.</p> <p>In assessing the damages claimed by the widow for the negligent killing of her husband, the distress and mental suffering inflicted on her by the deprivation of her husband’s companionship are, under our law, elements to be considered, and, as her pecuniary loss resulting from the failure of her husband’s support is to be made good upon the hypothesis that, though engaged in a hazardous occupation, he would have furnished such support during the unexpired term of a life the average