I. & G. N. R. R. Co. v. Cocke

Citations

• 64 Tex. 151

Syllabus

<p>1. Damages. — Reasonable expense incurred in taking care of and curing an animal injured by the wrong of a railroad company can be recovered.</p> <p>3. Railways — Negligence. — Where a railway line is not fenced, the law presumes negligence on the part of the company if stock are injured by the passage of a train; if the right of way is fenced, the burden of proving the want of due care rests upon the plaintiff seeking damages for such injury.</p> <p>3. Same — Damages.— The liability of the company for damages to stock at a public crossing, or any point which public convenience prevents from being fenced, is the same as if the road were fenced at that point. If stock are lawfully running at large within an incorporated town and are run over at a public crossing, the company is liable if its agents fail to exercise ordinary care. But if there is a city ordinance in force at the time and place where the injury occurs, by which the running of animals at large is made unlawful, the company will not be responsible for injury done to animals trespassing upon its track, unless the conduct of its employees amounts to gross negligence. It is presumed that owners of cattle will obey the ordinance, and as there is no probable danger, it is enough that the employees of the company use such care, after the danger is discovered, as a prudent man would use under similar circumstances. Thus a plaintiff may recover, even if his own negligence exposed him to the risk, if the defendant, after becoming aware of the danger, failed to exercise reasonable care.</p> <p>4. Gross negligence.— Gross negligence is an entire failure to exercise care, or the exercise of so slight a .degree of care as to justify the belief that there was an indifference to the interest and welfare of others,</p> <p>o. Burden of proof — Damages.— The corporation of San Antonio embraces an area of thirty-six square miles, a small portion only of which is covered with buildings or laid out in streets. In a suit a