Southern Railway Co. v. Snow

Citations

• 117 Va. 627
• 85 S.E. 488
• 1915 Va. LEXIS 76

Syllabus

<p>1. Master and Servant&emdash;Safe Appliances&emdash;Inspection&emdash;Delegation to Servant&emdash;Railroads.&emdash;While, as a general rule, it is the duty of the master to make such reasonable inspection of appliances furnished his servant as may be necessary to discover defects therein, it is well settled that he is under no obligation to inspect during their use those common tools and appliances with which every one is conversant, nor is it the master’s duty to repair defects arising in the daily use of those simple appliances, such as restoring to its place a nut on the end of a bolt which holds the tongue of an ordinary railroad station truck in its place. This is the duty of the •employee in charge of the station, especially when he is using the truck himself, and the master may assume that the servant himself using such an instrumentality will discover any defect in it and either apply the remedy, or not use it.</p> <p>2. Master and Servant&emdash;Railroads&emdash;Appliances&emdash;Inspection&emdash;Delegation to Servant.&emdash;A railroad company may by general rules impose upon a station agent the duty of inspecting a truck in use at the station, and if he is injured in consequence of an open and obvious defect which he has had ample opportunity to observe, the company is not liable.</p> <p>3. Appeal and Error&emdash;Conflicting Instructions.&emdash;Where the Instructions given by the trial court are in irreconcilable conflict, this court will reverse the judgment, as it is impossible to tell by which instruction the jury was controlled in arriving at its verdict.</p> <p>4. Instructions&emdash;Unnecessary Mtdtiplication.&emdash;Numerous irrelevant and unnecessary instructions should be avoided, as they are well calculated to confuse and mislead the jury, and to hinder rather than aid the administration of justice.</p>