116 Ky. 429 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1903
Opinion of the cóurt by
Reveksinc.
On the 7th of October, 1902, the appellant, Abe Bogard, brought suit against; tbe Illinois Central Railroad Company in tbe McCracken circuit court to recover damages alleged ■to have been suffered by him by reason of certain alleged
The only question which arises upon the present appeal which is reviewable in this court is whether or not the court below had the power to grant the application of the defendant, and, if so, whether the facts in the case justified their exercise herein. If it has exceeded its authority, we have jurisdiction, and it is our duty to correct the error of law. There is no uncertainty or indefiniteness with respect to the nature of the charge made against the defendant. The difficulty under which the defendant claims to labor is that the plaintiff has not sufficiently specified .the facts as to the time and place where the alleged acts of negligence occurred to enable it to intelligently defend the action. The defendant operates a trunk line through Mc-Cracken county, and it has perhaps fifty ’miles of track within the county. In course of twelve months thousands of trains pass over its road, operated by hundreds of different employes, át all hours of the day and night. The plaintiff necessarily has information as to the time and place of the accident, whether it was day or night, whether the injury was inflicted by a freight or passenger train; and a state of case might exist when it would be impossible for the defendant to secure this information, so necessary for the proper conduct of its defense. - When such a case arises, the trial court has inherent power to require such information to be furnished. This question was very fully considered in the case of Commonwealth v. Snelling, 15 Pick., 321. The opinion in that case was delivered by Chief Jus
' The judgment of dismissal is therefore reversed, and cause remanded for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.