Mobile & Ohio Railroad v. Gray

Citations

• 62 Miss. 383

Syllabus

<p>1. Rahjroad Company. Action against for damage by fire. Burden of proof. Case in judgment.</p> <p>Where, in an action against a railroad company for damages for the destruction of property by fire, the plaintiff shows that the burning was produced by an engineer or fireman on one of defendant’s running trains throwing a burning piece of wood from the engine on a part of the company’s right of way covered with inflammable grass, whence the fire spread rapidly to and destroyed plaintiff’s property, though third persons attempted to extinguish it, he relieves himself of the burden of proof and establishes a primd facie case of negligence on the part of the defendant, independently of l 1059 of the Code of 1880.</p> <p>2. Same. Liability for acts of agents. Section 1054, Code 1880.</p> <p>Section 1054 of the Code of 1880, which provides that a railroad company shall be liable for damages resulting from the negligence or mismanagement of its agents, engineers, or clerks, is but declaratory of a principle of the common law.</p>