Lyddy v. Louisville & N. R.

Citations

• 197 F. 524
• 117 C.C.A. 20
• 1912 U.S. App. LEXIS 1307

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant (§ 281*) — Action for Death of Brakeman — Sufficiency of Evidence — Contributory Negligence.</p> <p>Plaintiff’s intestate was a brakeman employed on a train on defendant’s railroad engaged in interstate commerce, when two cars with defective couplers were taken into the train at a way station. The conductor afterward called the attention of the two brakemen to the fact that there was a small leak in the air brake pipes, which they understood to be an order to find and repair it. While the train was stopped after dark at coal chutes for the purpose of coaling, deceased, who was in the caboose with the conductor, went out with his lantern without saying where he was going, and shortly after, when the train had moved backward a few feet, he was found lying beside the track fatally injured. There was evidence tending to show that he had probably gone between the defective cars and turned the cock of an air brake, hut no further evidence as to the manner of his injury, and, so far as appeared, no one knew of any intention on his part to fix the brake pipes. Held, that there was no evidence upon which to charge defendant with liability for his death; that, while the moving of the defective cars was in violation of law, the defects were not the proximate cause of the injury, and deceased was clearly negligent in going between the cars without warning to any one, and knowing that they were likely to be moved from one chute to another, or to proceed at any moment without warning.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Master and Servant, Cent. Dig. §§ r'87-906; Dec. Dig. § 281.*]</p>