LeBlanc v. Sweet

Citations

• 107 La. 355

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>1. A common carrier is bound to exercise the strictest diligence in receiving a passenger, conveying him to his destination, and setting him down safely, that the means of conveyance employed and the circumstances of the case will permit.</p> <p>2. There is a broad difference between the obligations of a carrier, to a passenger, and his obligations to a third person, complaining of tort; the burden of proof, in the latter case, save where otherwise -provided by statute, resting upon the claimant, to establish both the injury and the negligence which caused it; whereas, in the former case, it is sufficient, in order to throw the burden of explanation on the carrier, for the passenger, suing on a contract for personal earz-iage, to establish the contract, and to show that he has not been safely set down at his destination. It is, then, for the carrier, and not the passenger, to show what negligence, and whose, prevented the fulfillment of the contractual obligations of the carrier.'</p> <p>3. where a girl takes passage on a steamboat and is drowned upon reaching the point at which she expected to leave the boat, in an attempt to transfer her to a skiff, the burden of proof rests on the carrier to show that such occurrence did not result from the fault of his officers or representatives.</p> <p>4. There is danger in attempting such transfer, at night, and whilst the boat is in motion, of which the carrier ought to be aware, and to which he has no right to subject an ignorant and inexperienced passenger, and, in so doing, he assumes the risk of the consequences.</p> <p>5. The damages recoverable by the surviving parents, for the loss by drowning - of their daughter, a girl of sixteen, may include expenses incurred in finding and burying the body, loss of services and of filial offices, as also the amount which the daughter, herself, was entitled to recover, at the moment of her death.</p> <p>6. where an action in damages is brought against the owner,