30 Ga. App. 590 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1923
The petition and process in this case were served upon one C. M. Gaston, alleged to be the agent of the defendant — the Southern Railway Company — -in charge of the properties of the Southern Railway Company, in the county where the tort sued for is alleged to have been committed. It was alleged in the petition that the injury sued for ivas sustained prior to the date of Federal control of the railroads, but at the time of the service
The court properly sustained the traverse to the entry of service and properly sustained the plea in abatement and dismissed the suit. Eailway employees who were continued by the director-general of railroads as servants, after Federal control, were under the direction of the director-general of railroads- and were in no way controlled by their former employers. See Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Ault, 256 U. S. 554, 557 (41 Sup. Ct. 593, 65 L. ed. 1087, 1090); Ga. So. & Fla. Ry. Co. v. Smiley, 151 Ga. 795 (108 S. E. 273). After the presidential proclamation taking over the railroads and the control of them, and under the general orders of the director-general, such of the employees of the railway companies as may have been continued in the service became the employees of the director-general of railroads, upon whom service could not be made as agents of the railroads of suits for injuries or damages sustained by the alleged negligence- of railroads while they were being operated by the corporation.
Judgment affirmed.