81 Tenn. 432 | Tenn. | 1884
delivered the opinion of the court.
Action brought by Stewart against the railroad company for personal injuries. The verdict and judgment were in favor of Stewart, and the company appealed in error. The. Referees report that the judgment should be reversed for error in the charge of the trial judge to the jury. Both parties except, opening the •whole case.
' Stewart was injured in the face and eyes by an explosion of steam and tallow from an oil cup. There are two oil cups on a locomotive, one on each side about the center of the steam chest, and they require to be filled for about every seventy miles of travel. Each cup connects with the steam chest by a pipe, which enters the bottom of the cup and runs up the •center, the access of steam being controlled by a stop cock. There is also a waste cock ■ at the bottom of the cup by which its contents may be drained off. When the cups are filled, the steam is first shut off, the waste cock opened, and the top of the cup raised and removed to one side by a yoke working a screw. Stewart had been a fireman on railroad locomotives for two or three years befoi’e the injury complained of, and in the employment of the defendant below for at least a year. It was a part of his duty as a fireman to fill the oil cups. The company had the same kind of cup on a number of its engines, and Stewart was, he says, familiar with them, or to use his own words, “knew all about the cup so far as putting in tallow
The trial judge charged the jury that: “The burden of proof is on the defendant to show that its oil cup and appliances were suitable, sufficient, etc., under the instructions, heretofore given.” These instructions were that railroad companies are required to furnish their employes suitable and safe machinery and tools' with which to operate, subject to the qualification that the employe takes the risk of defects known to him at the time of employment, or which may aiterwards become known, and lor the repair whereof no promise has been made by the master after notice. But, as is well said by the counsel of the railroad company, the obligation to furnish safe and suitable machinery is one tiing, and the burden of proof when an accident occurs is another and a different thing. And the question presented by the judge’s charge, upon the supposition that the injury to the plaintiff below was occasioned by a defect in the oil cup or its appliances, is whether the burden of showing the defect rested upon the plaintiff or not.
The gist of the action, as set out in the declara-' tion, is that the explosion, which occasioned the injuries sued for, was “caused by reason of said oil cup being ' defective and not kept in proper repair.” The obligation of proving any fact lies upon the party who substantially asserts the affirmative of the issue: 1 Greenl. Ev., sec. 74. “No one,” says Mr. Justice "Field, “is responsible for injuries resulting from inev
There are cases in which proof of the injury complained of, and that it was caused by the railroad company will entitle the plaintiff to recover unless rebutted by other testimony. And it is usual to say in such cases that the requisite proof on the part of the plaintiff shifts the burden of proof upon the defendant. It has been repeatedly held in this State that where an injury, either to persons or stock, is shown to have been occasioned by the moving train ■of 'a railroad company, it then becomes incumbent on
The' proof in the case before us shows that the plaintiff was injured by a jet of steam from the oil cup. But it also shows that the accident might have been occasioned by the negligence of the plaintiff himself in failing to close the steam cock. The facts and circumstances do not necessarily or fairly carry with them an implication of negligence on the part of the company. To raise the presumption of negligence it should further appear that the injured party was without fault: Railroad v. Walrath, 38 Ohio St., 461. The burden of proof was upon the plaintiff to show negligence. And his Honor, the trial judge, was in error in charging otherwise.
Other errors relied on are not likely to occur upon -another trial.
The report of the Referees will be confirmed in accordance with this opinion, the judgment below reversed, .and the cause remanded for a new trial.