Sundmaker v. Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R.

Citations

• 106 La. 111

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>X. It Is a question of fact to be determined from tbe evidence whether a railway train, moving within municipal limits, was being run at a rate of speed unsafe and dangerous to the general public — so much so as to amount in law to omission to use reasonable care to avoid accidents in general and the one in question in particular.</p> <p>2. For, if the train was, considering all the circumstances, recklessly propelled, and to its high rate of speed is the casualty due, then there was fault on part of defendant amounting to actionable negligence.</p> <p>3. It matters not that there was no statute or municipal ordinance regulating the rate of speed at which trains should be run in that part of the city. Because legislatures or town councils fall to act in this respect, does not give railway companies license to run trains recklessly fast through much used districts of a city.</p> <p>4. The right to protection of life and limb is inherent, and is not affected by the omission of statutes, or by the non-existence of laws or regulations recognizing the right and guarding against its violation, or making provision for its enforcement.</p> <p>5. The rule that the highest rate of speed consistent with the safety of their passengers is permissible to railway trains, has its exceptions, and one of these arises where a train enters the limits of a city or town where people congregate and pass to and fro in numbers. Then it is that those in charge of a train owe a duty quite as great to those on the outside as to those on the inside. Thus, while conveying their passengers in safety and with speed, • the latter must be so regulated and controlled as to show due regard to the safety of those without the train, and especially is this true where the railway tracks are laid upon the streets and public places of the city.</p>