141 Ga. 90 | Ga. | 1913
Mrs. Savannah Thigpen brought suit against the Georgia and Florida Railway, seeking to recover damages on' account of a personal injury. A demurrer to the petition as amended was overruled, and exceptions pendente lite were entered of record. The jury found for the plaintiff $750. The defendant moved for a new trial, which was denied, and it excepted.
It is not necessary in every case involving an injury to a passenger for the presiding judge to give to the jury comprehensive instructions, covering all possible cases, as to when the relation of carrier and passenger begins, how long it continues, and when it ends. If the case involved an injury to a passenger while on the train pending his journey, a discussion of whether the relation of carrier and passenger might arise before he entered the train, or of whether it might continue after he alighted from the train but before he left the premises of the company, would probably be of no benefit to the jury, and in some instances might confuse them. The language of various charges has sometimes been approved, not as an absolute definition of the relation of carrier and passenger, but as dealing with the question involved in the particular case.
Of course, there may be circumstances which modify the general rule, or its application, but, under the evidence in the present case, the question of what was the duty of the defendant in regard to allowing reasonable time and opportunity for a passenger to alight from the train, and whether or not it discharged that duty, was directly involved.
Judgment reversed.