St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co. v. Harvey

Citations

• 144 F. 806
• 75 C.C.A. 536
• 1906 U.S. App. LEXIS 3897

Syllabus

<p>1. Master and Servant — Negligence—Acts of Servant Must be Within Score of His Employment and in the Business of Master in Order to Charge Latter.</p> <p>Two indispensable conditions of the liability of a master for the negligent acts of a servant are that they shall be within the scope of the latter’s employment and that they shall be done in conducting the business of the master. If a servant step aside from the business of his master for never so short a time to do an act that is not a part of that business, the relation of master and servant is for the time suspended, and the acts of the servant during this interval are not the master's but his own.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see vol. 34, Cent. Dig. Master and Servant, §§ 1209, 1217-1224.]</p> <p>2. Same — Liability of Master not Created by Servant’s Use of His Facilities Without His Consent.</p> <p>The use by a servant, in the commission of a tortious act and while pursuing his own affairs, of cars, engines, or facilities of the master, without the latter’s consent, but which the servant could not have pro-curort In the absence of the relation of master and servant, is insufficient to charge 1he master ■with liability for the acts of the servant.</p> <p>rKrt. Note. — For cases in point, see vol. 34, Gent. Dig. Master and Servant. $ 1225.]</p> <p>3. Same' — Facts—Decision.</p> <p>A straw boss and some members of a gang of laborers, which was engaged in surfacing and repairing track, took a hand car and drove it to town about three miles south of their place of work and camp at about four in the afternoon. About eight in the evening some members of another gang, which was engaged in relaying the track near the place of work of the former gang, were taking some sick workmen to the town upon a hand car, when they collided with the iirst car which was returning without any light upon it. The rules and practice of the company prohibited the allowance of a hand car upon the track, without the permissio