Pelot v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

Citations

• 60 Fla. 159

Syllabus

<p>Passengers—Duty of Carrier To.</p> <p>1. Passengers do not contract merely for shiproom and transportation from one place to another; but they also contract for good treatment, and against personal rudeness and every wanton interference with their persons either by the carrier or his agents employed in the management of the ship or other conveyance: If the wrongful act is inflicted on the plaintiff while he is a passenger in actual course of transportation by a servant of the carrier acting as such at the time of the act, the law will consider the carrier as responsible therefor, without inquiring whether the wrong was committed in the execution of the servant’s employment. Whatever may be the motive which incites the servánt to commit an unlawful or improper act towards the passenger during the existence of the relation of carrier and passenger, the carrier is liable for the act and its natural and legitimate consequences.</p> <p>2. Passenger carriers, by their contracts, bind themselves to carry safely those whom they take into their coaches or cars as far as human foresight will go; that is for the utmost care and diligence of very cautious persons.</p> <p>3. A declaration that distinctly alleges that while the plaintiff was a passenger in course of transportation on the defendant’s train, the defendant’s employee, the porter on said train, who was in the discharge of the duties of his employment, did negligently, violently and suddenly, regardless of plaintiff’s rights, shove and push a swinging door in said passenger coach, back and 'upon plaintiff’s foot without any fault upon plaintiff’s part thereby causing serious injury to plaintiff’s foot, states a legal cause of action, and is not subject to demurrer.</p>