Pensacola & Atlantic Railroad v. Hyer Bros.

Citations

• 32 Fla. 539

Syllabus

<p>RAILWAY DRAW-BRIDGE — OBSTRUCTIONS UNDER — WHO LIABLE FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY.</p> <p>Where a railway company, having lawful authority so to do, crosses a public navigable stream or watercourse with its road, erecting in a proper manner the proper and necessary structures for such crossing, occupying therewith the space and no more than the space permitted to it, and so erects and uses such structures as that they shall not unnecessarily abridge or destroy the usefulness of such stream to the public as a navigable highway, using in a proper manner a movable draw-bridge by which it crosses that part of such stream left open for the public navigation thereof, it is not liable for injuries resulting to vessels navigating such stream from coming in contact with obstructions in the open space or channel of water under such drawbridge when such obstructions are present without' fault no such company’s part. The open space left to be temporarily spanned from time to time by the railway’s draw-bridge is left not only to the free tise, but to the control and care of the public, and the railway company is under no more obligation to keep it free of obstructions present without its agency, than it is to care for any other part of the channel of such stream.</p>