Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Gentry

Citations

• 163 U.S. 353
• 16 S. Ct. 1104
• 41 L. Ed. 186
• 1896 U.S. LEXIS 2274

Syllabus

<p>In this case, while there was in form a separate judgment, in favor of each of the persons for whose benefit the action was brought, the statute of Texas creates a single liability on the part of the defendant, and contemplates but one action for the sole and exclusive benefit of the surviving husband, wife, children and parents of the persons whose death was caused in any of the specified modes.</p> <p>A decree or judgment by the Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming a decree or judgment of a Circuit Court, without specifying the sum for which it is rendered, is a final decree or judgment, from which an appeal or writ of error will lie to this court.</p> <p>This case was onepeculiarly for the jury, under appropriate instructions from the court as to the principles of law by which they were to be guided in reaching a conclusion as to the liability of the railroad company for the death of its employé; and the positions taken to the contrary have no merit.</p> <p>The law presumes in the entire absence of evidence,that a railroad employé, in crossing the track of the railroad on foot at night to go .to his duty, looks and listens for coming trains before crossing.</p> <p>It is only when facts are such that all reasonable men must draw the same conclusion from them, that the question of negligence is ever considered as one of law for the court.</p>