Kyne v. Wilmington & Northern R.

Citations

• 13 Del. 185
• 8 Houston 185
• 14 A. 922
• 1888 Del. LEXIS 11

Syllabus

<p>Railroad Crossing— Construction of— Obstruction to Public Highway—Negligence— Contributory Negligence.</p> <p>Contributory negligence of the slightest degree on the part of the plaintiff is a good defence to an action for damages for a personal injury.</p> <p>When a statute provides that all railroad companies must make such highway crossings “ as the circumstances of the case and the public safety may require,” the nature of the crossing is not governed by the public safety alone, but by what is practicable, in the judgment of a competent engineer^ to be done for the purpose of carrying out the objects of the railroad company.</p> <p>The statute provides that no approaches to a railroad crossing shall be of a heavier grade than five degrees, and that such approaches shall be protected • by sufificient railings or guards. Held, in an action against a railrord company for damages for a personal injury received by one driving upon a highway approach to a railroad crossing, that the question as to whether the company was guilty of negligence in respect to such approach, by reason of delay in erecting railings thereto after having made the approach by a filling, was a question for the jury ; that the fact that the company did not begin to erect the railings until the day of the accident, although the filling had been completed some three months before, was not of itself negligence, if it would have been impracticable or premature, on account of the setting of the filling, to erect the railing sooner, and that the company would be responsible for the injury (in the absence of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff) if the approach to the crossing was of a heavier grade than that limited by the statute, provided such excess in grade caused the accident.</p> <p>A railroad company is bound to use every reasonable precaution to prevent injury to those using a highway along or across its track; and if it fails to use proper care, such as is required by statut