Purple v. Union Pac. R.

Citations

• 114 F. 123
• 57 L.R.A. 700
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4074

Syllabus

<p>1. Carriers — One Entering Train with Understanding with Conductor not to Pay Fare a Trespasser — Duty op Carrier.</p> <p>One who, knowing that a conductor has no authority to grant free transportation, enters and rides upon his train with the deliberate intention not to pay his fare, under an agreement or under a tacit understanding with the conductor that he shall ride free, commits a fraud upon the railroad company, and is not a passenger, but is a mere trespasser, to whom the only duty of the company is to abstain from willful or reckless injury.</p> <p>2. Same.</p> <p>One who enters and rides upon a car or train which he knows, or by the exercise of reasonable diligence would know, is prohibited from carrying passengers, is a trespasser, and not a passenger, and the only duty of the railroad company toward him is to abstain from wanton or reckless injury to him.</p> <p>8. Same — Alleged Passenger on Freight Train Presumptively a Trespasser.</p> <p>In the absence of any rule or practice permitting freight trains to carry passengers, the presumption is that one riding for his own convenience on a freight train, an engine, a hand ear, or any other carriage of a common carrier not designed for the transportation of passengers, is unlawfully there, and is a trespasser.</p> <p>4. Same — Freight Trains — Passenger—Knowledge op Facts Suggesting Inquiry.</p> <p>One about to board a train who has knowledge of facts which would put a person of ordinary prudence and diligence upon inquiry to ascertain whether or not the train is permitted to carry passengers is charged with a knowledge of all the facts which a reasonably diligent inquiry would discover.</p> <p>5. Negligence — No Such Degree as “Gross.”</p> <p>It is not error to refuse to instruct the jury that a defendant is guilty of gross negligence as distinguished from ordinary negligence on the one hand, and willful or reckless negligence on the other, because there is no such legal degree of negligence as “gross”