Missouri Pacific Railway Co. v. Crenshaw

Citations

• 71 Tex. 340
• 9 S.W. 262
• 1888 Tex. LEXIS 1145

Syllabus

<p>1. Railroad Employes—Rights and Duties.—See charge of court held to be in accordance with previous decisions of this court as to the duties respectively of railroad companies and their employes in regard to the machinery used by the employes.</p> <p>2. Same—Employes.—They are charged with knowledge pf patent defects and with the usual effects of use and wear upon the machinery used by them; but they are not charged, from the mere duty of using the machinery, with the further duty of inspecting it for latent defects. Such care may exist by contract.</p> <p>3. Care Required of Employes.—It was not error to refuse an instruction that plaintiff could not recover unless it appeared that “plaintiff did not know of the defect and could not have known it by exercising care.” Such charge does not indicate whether the ordinary care required of an employe to observe what was patent, or the care of an inspection made to pass upon the condition of the machinery as fit or unfit for the use required.</p> <p>5. Pact Case.—See facts sufficient to sustain a verdict for plaintiff for damages caused him by defective machinery.</p> <p>6. Damages not Excessive.—See facts where a judgment for five thousand dollars was not excessive for personal injuries.</p>