Phil. & Read. R. v. Hughes

Citations

• 119 Pa. 301
• 13 A. 286
• 1888 Pa. LEXIS 550

Syllabus

<p>1. In an action by a railroad employee against the company for damages for personal injuries received while in the performance of his duty, the mere fact of the injury does not raise a presumption of negligence, as is the rule in the case of a passenger; the burden of proving negligence rests upon the plaintiff.</p> <p>2. The duty of a railroad company to exercise ordinary care in providing and maintaining cars that are safe, and suitable appliances and machinery to be operated by their employees, does not require the adoption of the best machinery which can be procured or that which combines the latest devices or improvements, but such only as is reasonably safe and in common use.</p> <p>3. If a person specially undertake to perform a peculiarly perilous employment by operating, knowingly and voluntarily, a machine obviously wanting in appliances suitable for safety, he cannot thereafter be heard to charge that the machinery was of a dangerous kind and wanting in such appliances.</p> <p>4. So, if an employee, having had full opportunity to become acquainted with the hazards of his position, make no complaint to his employers as to machinery which he knows to be wanting in appliances for safety; or, having the means of discovering defects which his employers may not have, do not observe and repoi’t defects in the machinery which have become apparent in their use, he cannot complain if subsequently injured by such exposure.</p> <p>5. A brakeman and a car-inspector of a railroad company are fellow-servants in the same circle of employment; and, if the company employ competent and skilful inspectors and afford them reasonable opportunities and facilities for the work under proper instructions, the company will not be liable for the negligence of the inspectors, unless it knew or by the exercise of ordinary diligence ought to have known, of the defective manner in which the inspection was made.</p> <p>6. Where, in an action to recover for injuries incui’red by a brak