McGarvey v. Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railway Co.

Citations

• 83 Ohio St. (N.S.) 273

Syllabus

<p>Duty of railroad, company — To equip cars with automatic couplers — Act of March ig, igoó — Company liable to employe — For worn or defective couplers — Employe does not assume risk, when— Liability of employer.</p> <p>1. By virtue of Section two of an act entitled: “An act to promote the safety of employes and travelers upon railroads,” etc., passed by the general assembly of Ohio, March 19, 1906 (98 O. L., 75), it is the positive duty of a railway company to equip cars being used in moving state traffic, “with couplers coupling automatically by impact, and which can be uncoupled without the necessity of men going between the ends of the cars,” and the use of such cars without the required equipment is unlawful.</p> <p>2. It 'is the duty of the railway company engaged in moving state traffic to exercise ordinary care to keep the said couplers in working order so as to accomplish the object of said enactment and promote the safety of employes engaged in causing such cars to be coupled’.</p> <p>3. Where an employe of a railway company, whose duty is to cause cars in use by said company in moving state traffic to be coupled, and which cars are not equipped with couplers coupling automatically by impact, as required by said Section two, is killed or injured in attempting to cause said cars to be coupled, the railway company is liable in damages for a violation of said section, and, according to Section seven of said act, the employe is not deemed to have assumed the risk occasioned by the neglect of the company; nor shall he be held to have contributed to his death or injury where the company has violated the provisions of said Section two, which violation contributed to the death or injury of such employe.</p> <p>4. Where a railway company uses cars in moving state traffic, which are equipped with couplers intended, when installed, to couple automatically by impact, but from long use or other cause, they have become defective, worn and have such lateral play that t