135 Ga. 517 | Ga. | 1910
Brannan & Holder brought suit against R. L. Moore to recover a sum of’ money alleged to be tbe value of a borse which was one of a pair that the plaintiffs had hired to the defendant, and which was driven by the defendant a distance of fourteen or fifteen miles into the country, the journey having commenced at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon and ended six or seven hours later. It is alleged in the j>etition, that the defendant made application to the petitioners for a team, consisting of a pair of horses and a carriage, to be used by the defendant on the day of the hiring for the purpose of going for some distance out into the country; that after the team had been driven about two miles one of the horses became sick, and this fact was discovered by the defendant, but he continued to drive the horse for a distance of about twelve or
1. The original motion for a new trial contained the general grounds. The plaintiffs amended the motion, and the amendment 'contained several grounds; among them, one assigning error upon the following charge of the court: “Now, what is the rule that relates both to the plaintiffs and defendant in reference to that matter? Among all the rules, so far as the plaintiffs are concerned, who, in law, is known as the bailor, and the defendant is the bailee, and that among other obligations on the part of the bailor there is an obligation that the thing bailed is free from any secret fault rendering it unfit for the purpose for which it was hired. And that means this: if there was anything in the physical condition of the horse in this case, that is the subject-matter of this controversy, which made it unfitted, whether Bjannan & Holder knew it or not, for the use for which it was intended and hired, then that would be a violation on the part of Brannan & Holder of an obligation which they were due to the defendant. In other words, when one hires a horse for a specified purpose and time, if they
2. The plaintiffs complain that the court erred in charging the jury as follows: “If the bailor sends his own agent with the thing bailed as driver, then the hirer is bound either to the bailor or third persons only for the consequence of his own direction or gross neglect. You see there is a difference, where the horse is hired, between the liability ■ and duty of the bailee where he has a driver sent, and a case where the bailee does not have a driver sent, and that is the material difference under the law.” It is contended that this charge is not “the law in this case under the evidence submitted.” But in immediate connection with this statement of the law the court charged as follows: “Now, what is the next law relating to it? In all cases of bailment, after proof of loss the burden is on the bailee to show proper diligence. Now, that means this: In this case if you believe that Moore hired from Brannan & Holder the horse set out in this case, the one that died, and they show that fact and the value of the animal, then the burden is shifted, as it is called, from the plaintiffs to the defendant; it is shifted to the extent that there is then a duty upon the part of the defendant to‘show that he has exercised all diligence which, in cases of that character, the law requires that he shall exercise; and if he don’t show that diligence, then he is liable to the
The evidence authorized the verdict, and the court did not err in refusing to grant a new trial.
Judgment affirmed: