Fraser v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.

Citations

• 101 Kan. 122
• 165 P. 831
• 1917 Kan. LEXIS 32

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>NEGLiGENCE-^-FrefyAi House Watchman — Shot by Intruder — Entrance Through Unbolted Door — Proximate and Remote Causes. The defendant, an interstate carrier, maintains a large freight house having many doors. It was known there were persons about the freight house at different times of the night watching for an opportunity to steal property in the defendant’s care. At the close of business each day it was the duty of an employee known as the doorman to close all doors and bolt them. The plaintiff was night watchman of the freight house, and his duties were to look after and protect the property in the defendant’s custody. The first duty of the watchman, on coming into the building in the evening, was to see that all doors were closed and bolted, but this duty had not been communicated to the plaintiff. At 1:05 a. m., while going his rounds, the plaintiff discovered that one of the doors was open. Suspecting the presence of an intruder, he commenced to draw his revolver, when he was shot in the arm by which he carried his lantern, by a man who escaped through the open door. The plaintiff had passed by the door hourly since 7:05 of the evening before, and the door had been closed. Assuming the doorman failed to bolt the door, it is held the omission merely created a condition which made entrance into the building less difficult, and that the cause of the plaintiff's injury was the independent, unrelated criminal act of the intruder, who used the door to gain admission to the building.</p>