Southern Pacific Co. v. Berkshire

Citations

• 254 U.S. 415
• 41 S. Ct. 162
• 65 L. Ed. 335
• 1921 U.S. LEXIS 1886

Syllabus

<p>1. The installation of railway mail cranes so close to the track that the arm of a crane when extended comes as near as 14 inches to the window of an engine cab, thus becoming a source of danger to the engineer while in performance of his duty, is not negligence upon the part of the railroad company as respects its employees, when such placing of the cranes is uniform along the railroad, and done by direction of the Post Office Department pursuant to a . plan it found necessary in handling the mails. P. 417.</p> <p>2. Held, that the question whether 'such installation was negligence should not have been submitted to the jury.</p> <p>3. An experienced locomotive engineer who has operated many times over a railroad where mail cranes are set up close to the track, must . be presumed to have known the danger of his being struck by their projecting arms when leaning from his cab'window in discharge of his-duty, and must be held, as a matter of law, to have assumed the risk. P. 418.</p> <p>207 S. W. Rep. 323, reversed.</p>