97 N.J.L. 37 | N.J. | 1922
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The appeal is from a .judgment of nonsuit. Plaintiff was riding1 as a passenger on a trolley car of the defendant company, when a negro entered the ear and took a seat alongside him. The plaintiff’s testimony, which must be taken as true for the purpose of determining whether the
We are of opinion' that the nonsuit was erroneous. The carrier owes to the passenger the dutjr of protecting him from the violence and insults and assaults of fellow-passengers and intruders, and. will be held responsible for its own or its servants’ neglect in this particular, when, by the exercise of proper care, the acts of violence might have been foreseen and prevented. Exton v. Central Railroad Co., 62 N. J. L. 7; 63 Id. 356; Haver v. Central Railroad Co., 62 Id. 282, 284; Partridge v. Woodland Steamboat Co., 66 Id. 290; Hoff v. Public Service Railway Co., 91 Id. 641; Skillen v. West Jersey and Seashore Railroad Co., 96 Id. 492. A similar rule prevails in other jurisdictions. 5 R. C. L. 122; 5 Encycl. L. (2d ed.) 541, 548; 10 C. J. 900; Stewart v. Railroad Co., 90 N. Y. 588, 591; Flint v. Norwich and New York Transportation Co. (United States Circuit Court), 34 Conn. 554;
There was, as already observed, another theory of the facts, open to tlie jury, viz., that plaintiff intervened and undertook to eject the negro alone and without any request front the conductor to do so. This phase of the case, however, is; not argued, and we express no opinion upon it.
Let the judgment he reversed, to the end that a venire de novo issue. ;