St. Louis, Alton & Teree Haute Railroad v. Linder

Citations

• 39 Ill. 433

Syllabus

<p>1. Fencing railroads—liability in case of negligence. Where a railroad company fails to fence its track as required by law, or has erected an insufficient fence, or failed to maintain a fence, it is liable for all damages resulting from such omission of duty, and this without any reference to the manner in which its engines may have been controlled.</p> <p>2. But, where cattle get upon the track at a point where the company is not bound to fence, or where others are bound to erect and maintain the fence, and stray along the track and are killed by a train at a place where the company was bound to fence and had not done so, the company is not liable, since the injury, in such case, would have no connection with the failure to fence the road at the place where the animals were killed.</p> <p>8. Where stock gets upon the track át a place where others than the company are bound to erect and maintain the fence, and is killed at that place or another, the company is liable only in case of gross negligence.</p> <p>4. Parties—who may sue for injury to stock. A man must be the owner of property before he can recover for injury it has sustained. And, where several persons sue, if any portion of the property belongs to other persons than the plaintiffs, or if any portion of it belongs to either of them individually, they cannot recover for it.,. Where several sue for injury to property belonging to them jointly, they can recover only for such property as they prove so belonged to them.</p>