Eagle Packet Co. v. Defries

Citations

• 94 Ill. 598
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 141

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence—landing of passengers from a steamboat. Where a steamboat is landing at a wharf for the purpose of enabling passengers to go ashore, it is the duty of the proper officers of the boat to provide means for the safe transit of those who wish to leave the boat,—and the fact that a stage plank, placed for the use of passengers in landing, fell while a passenger, in the exercise of due care, was walking over it, is prima facie evidence of negligence on the part of the officers of the boat in the performance of that duty, and, in an action by the passenger to recover for an injury caused by the falling of the plank, the burden is upon the defendant to show the falling of the plank was not the result of negligence on the part of the officers of the boat.</p> <p>2. Although it may appear that the end of the boat was moved around by the wind, and that this caused the falling of the stage plank, yet, it not being shown that the boat was fastened to the wharf in any way, or that it could not have been fastened so as to have prevented it from being moved by the wind, there would not appear to have been due care on the part of the officers of the boat to discharge it from liability.</p> <p>3. Release—whether properly obtained, so as to be binding. In an action against a carrier of passengers to recover for personal injuries received by the plaintiff, occasioned by the alleged negligence of the defendant, there was interposed as a defence a paper executed by the plaintiff, purporting to be a release of the cause of action. It appeared the plaintiff was an illiterate woman, unable to read or write, and the paper was obtained from her during her'illness consequent upon the injury, by the physician who was attending her, in the absence of any of her friends to whom she could look for advice,— the physician explaining to her that the servants of the defendant had expended the sum of money named in the paper for her benefit, and wanted something to show what the money