M'Guire v. Lehigh Valley Railroad

Citations

• 215 Pa. 618
• 64 A. 825
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 860

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Railroads—Master and servant — Bridge.</p> <p>Where a railroad company commits the designing and construction of a bridge into the hands of competent and skilled engineers, it is not obliged to accept the suggestion of the bridge contractor with regard to the amount of riprapping needed around a pier.</p> <p>A railroad company is bound to exercise the highest degree of care in the construction of its bridges for the use of its trains. But the standard of duty is not to be fixed in this respect by the caprice of a jury of uninformed men.</p> <p>The burden of proof of showing that a railroad company has not exercised proper care in choosing its officers or employees for a particular purpose, rests upon those who assert it.</p> <p>In an action against a railroad company to recover damages for the death of a brakeman employed by the company, it appeared that the deceased was thrown into a river, and drowned, by the collapse of one span of a railroad bridge. The deceased was, at the time of the accident, engaged with others in placing heavily loaded freight cars upon the bridge for the purpose of holding it in position, and preventing it from being washed away by an extraordinary flood then prevailing. The pier in question was built in accordance with the plans and specifications furnished by the engineers of the company, whose skill and competency were not questioned. One of the engineers testified that in his judgment the amount of riprapping around the pier was entirely sufficient. The bridge contractor testified that more riprap work should have been placed around the pier. Held, that it was error to submit the case to the jury, and that binding instructions should have been given for the defendant.</p>