Greenlee v. Southern Railway Co.

Citations

• 122 N.C. 977

Syllabus

<p>Action for Damages — Railroads—Master and Servant— Negligence — Self-Coupling Devices.</p> <p>1. The failure of a railroad company to equip its freight cars with modern self-coupling devices is negligence per se, continuing up to the time of an injury received by an employee in coupling the cars by hand for which the company is liable whether such employee contributed to such injury by his own negligence or not. '</p> <p>2 The former decisions of this Court touching upon the duties of rail- ■ roads to provide modern appliances for coupling cars otherwise than by hand and foreshadowing the early holding that the failure to do so would be negligence per se, and the Act of Congress (27 U. S. Statutes at Large,p. 531) requiring self-couplers to be placed on all cars by January 1, 1898, and the general adoption by railroads of such self-couplers, made it the duty of defendant to adopt such devices, and its failure to do so, whereby an employee was injured, was negligence per se.</p> <p>3. The fact that an employee remains in the service of a railroad'company, knowing that its freight cars are not equipiied with self-couplers, does not excuse the railroad from liability to such employee if injured while coupling its cars by hand, the doctrine of “assumption of risk” having no application where the law requires the use of new appliances to secure the safety of employees and the employee, being either ignorant oí the law’s requirement or expecting daily compliance with it, continues in the service with the old appliances.</p> <p>Faikcloth, O. J., and Fueches, J., dissent.</p>