Houston & Texas Central R'y Co. v. O'Hare

Citations

• 64 Tex. 600

Syllabus

<p>1, Negligence — Defective machinery.— A party sued a railroad company for damages, the sole ground being that he was injured by the company in using a defective engine. Held:</p> <p>(1) In a case in which the negligence of an agent or officer was the negligence of the principal, as in the case of those agents of a railroad who selected its machinery and superintended its repair, and gave an action to an employee for an injury resulting therefrom, it was not error to instruct the jury that the railroad company had no means of acting except through its agents, and that the act or negligence of an agent was the act of the company itself.</p> <p>(2) If the issue had been as to the manner in which an agent used a thing not defective, the charge would have been incorrect.</p> <p>(3) It is the duty of a railroad company to furnish, maintain and keep in good repair engines and other machinery reasonably suitable and safe for the transaction of its business, and to use a degree of care proportioned to the degree of hazard or danger which might reasonably be anticipated as .consequent upon its negligence in selecting and repairing its machinery.</p> <p>(4) A railroad company is not liable to its employee for injuries received by him while running a defective engine to the machine shop for repair, if he knew of the defect which made repair necessary. When the employee is not chargeable with the knowledge of such defect, the question of negligence in the use of the defective engine is to be decided by the jury.</p> <p>(5) The rule that the master must exercise proper care in furnishing safe machinery, etc., to perform the service in which the employee is engaged, extends to all classes of business — as well to the removal of a disabled engine from the roadway to a place for repair, as to the operations of the trains on the road. The same rules apply to employees, as in other cases, in reference to the degree of care incumbent on them.</p> <p>2. Argument.— When language not p