St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad v. Madden

Citations

• 77 Kan. 80
• 93 P. 586
• 1908 Kan. LEXIS 229

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Negligence — Independent Contractor — Liability of Employer. It is a general rule that one who employs another to do a' piece of work is not liable for the other’s collateral negligence unless the relation of master and servant exists between them. The following exceptions to the general rule apply to and govern this case: (a) Whenever an injury to á third party results from the failure of the employer to perform a duty which he owes to such party he will not be permitted to avoid his liability by letting the performance of the work to another. (6) One who has a piece of work to perform which in its nature is dangerous to others is under obligation to see that it is carefully performed so as to avoid injury, and he cannot delegate the obligation to an independent contractor and thus avoid his liability in case the work is negligently done to the injury of another.</p> <p>2. Railroads — Injury by Eire Set Out by Independent Contractor. A railroad company let a contract to another to burn a fire-guard along its right of way. Through the negligence of the contractor the fire escaped his control and damaged the propérty of the plaintiff. Held: (a) That the work was performed as a part of the operation of the railroad, and that the railroad company could not, by delegating the work to an inr dependent contractor, avoid the liability placed upon it by statute (Gen. Stat. 1901, § 5923). (&) That, the work being of a character from which in the natural course of things injurious consequences to others might be expected to result unless means were adopted to prevent such consequences, the railroad company was bound to see that measures were taken to prevent such injury, and could not avoid the obligation by letting the work to an independent contractor.</p>