25 Or. 314 | Or. | 1894
Opinion by
The general rule undoubtedly is that in actions for personal injuries caused by the alleged negligence of the defendant, the plaintiff is required to produce some evidence of negligence to warrant the judge in submitting the case to the jury. “But when the cause of the accident is shown to be under the management of the defendant or his servants, and the accident is such as in the . ordinary course of things does not happen, if those who have the management use proper care, it affords reasonable evidence for the jury in the absence of explanation by the defendant, that the accident arose from want of proper care Scott v. London Docks Co. 3 Hurl. & C. 596. The law imposes the duty upon the proprietor of a stage coach or other public vehicle to provide a reasonably safe conveyance, drawn by steady horses, with secure harness, and a skillful and competent driver. In the discharge of this duty, the carrier is bound to use the utmost care and diligence of cautious persons to prevent injury to passengers. In Crofts v. Waterhouse, 3 Bing. 321, Bost, C. J., said: “The coachman must have competent skill,
The liabilities of the carrier arise from the duties which the law imposes, and, while he is not an insurer against all defects, his liability extends to such as might be guarded against by care and skill. So that, although the duty is not imposed upon him of conveying his passengers with absolute safety, jmt his liability goes to the extent of requiring that he shall use all care and diligence in providing a suitable vehicle, safe horses and harness, and a qualified driver. This is based on the principle that, the means of transportation being under the management of the carrier, and their fitness for such service peculiarly within his knowledge, he is bound to
In the case at bar the record discloses the circumstances under which the horses began to run and kick, the conduct of the driver on the occasion, and how the injury occurred to the plaintiff. The defendant claims that these circumstances afford no inference that it failed in its duty to provide a safe and steady team or a careful and competent driver. Counsel argues that the fact that the team ran and kicked, or that the driver was careless on this occasion, does not show that the team were addicted to this habit or vice, or that the driver was generally incompetent, and hence was not evidence that the plaintiff’s injury was caused by reason of the defendant’s negligence in providing an unsafe or unreliable team, or a careless or incompetent driver. This is putting the onus on the person who has no means of knowing the temper or character of the team, or the particular skill or qualifications of the driver, to show that the team is habitually vicious or unsafe, or that the driver is without the requisite qualifications for his position. In Simpson v. Omnibus Co. 8 L. R. (C. P.), 391, a passenger in an omnibus was injured by a blow from the hoof of one of the horses which had kicked through the front panel of the vehicle, but there was no evidence to show that this particular horse was vicious or a kicker. It was contended that a casual kick by one of the numerous horses employed by the company was no evidence of a want of due and reasonable care on its part. It was argued, as here, that a horse which has never kicked before may do so once without acquiring the character of being vicious, and hence that the burden of proving the horso unsafe
In Roberts v. Johnson, 58 N. Y. 616, the evidence tended to show that while the plaintiff was getting out of the omnibus, the horses started, whereby plaintiff was violently thrown upon the ground and injured. Grover, J., said: “This showed, prima fade, either that the horses were unsuitable for such service, or the driver incompetent or negligent in the performance of his duty. If the starting of the horses was attributable to some other cause, for which the defendants were not responsi
The cases cited by counsel to the effect that the fact that a horse becomes unmanageable on one occasion does not show him to be vicious in disposition are in actions where no contractual relations existed between the parties, and those to the effect that a single act of negligence