Fletcher v. Baltimore & Potomac Railroad

Citations

• 168 U.S. 135
• 18 S. Ct. 35
• 42 L. Ed. 411
• 1897 U.S. LEXIS 1713

Syllabus

<p>The plaintiff in error was a workman employed by the defendant in error at its workshop in Washington. Returning from his day’s labor, he stopped at the intersection of South Capitol Street and Virginia Avenue, to enable a repair train to pass him. ■ It was and for a long time had been the custom of the railroad company to allow its workmen, who went out on the repair train in the morning, to bring back with them on their return in the evening sticks of refuse timber for their individual use as firewood, and these men were in the habit of throwing their pieces off the train while in motion, at the points nearest their own homes, being cautioned on the part of the company not to injure any one in doing it. As the train passed the plaintiff in error, such a piece of refuse wood was thrown from it by one of the men. It struck the ground, rebounded, struck- the plaintiff in error, and injured him seriously and permanently. He sued the company to recover damages. After the plaintiff’s evidence was in and he rested, the defendant moved for a verdict in its favor, which motion was granted. Held, that this was error; that the question whether the defendant was negligent should have been submitted to the jury; and that it was for the jury to say whether the custom on the part of the workmen was known to the company, whether if known it was acquiesced in, whether it was a dangerous custom from which injury should have been apprehended, and whether there was a failure, on the part of the defendant, to exercise reasonable care, in view of all the circumstances, to prohibit the custom and prevent the performance of the act.</p> <p>The duty to use ordinary care and caution is imposed upon a railroad company to the extent of requiring from it the.use of reasonable diligence in the conduct and management of its trains, so that persons or property on the public highway shall not be injured by a negligent or dangerous act performed by any one on the train, either a passenger, or a