New Jersey Steamboat Co. v. Brockett

Citations

• 121 U.S. 637
• 7 S. Ct. 1039
• 30 L. Ed. 1049
• 1887 U.S. LEXIS 2082

Syllabus

<p>When the contract of a common carrier with a passenger assigns to the latter a particular part of the vessel or vehicle to be occupied by him during transportation, and he voluntarily occupies a place different from that contracted for, the carrier is released from liability for injuries which necessarily arise from the passenger’s change of place; but it continues bound to furnish safe .transportation, and to indemnify the passenger, under general rules of law, for injuries which do not directly arise by reason of his change of place, or which are caused by improper conduct of the carrier’s servants, acting either in the scope of their general duties, or in the discharge of special duties imposed upon them.</p> <p>A common carrier undertakes absolutely to protect its passengers against the misconduct or negligence of its own servants, employed in executing the contract of transportation, and acting within the general • scope of their employment.</p> <p>What will be misconduct on the part of the servants of a common carrier towards a passenger cannot be defined by a general rule applicable to every case, but must depend upon the particular circumstances in which they are required to act; and in this case the issue was fairly placed before the jury by the court.</p> <p>Declarations made by one officer to another officer of a steamboat, while both are engaged in violently removing a passenger from a part of the vessel in which his contract of transportation did not entitle him to be, are admissible in evidence as part of the res gestee, in an action brought by the passenger against the corporation owning the steamboat and transporting the passenger, to recover damages for injuries resulting from the assault.</p>