88 Iowa 409 | Iowa | 1893
In February, 1890, the plaintiff' was in the employment of the defendant, as conductor-of a freight train. His ordinary run was from Esther-ville to a siding near Hotel Orleans, at Spirit Lake, where ice was being loaded, and back to Estherville. At that time there was a railway platform south of the-hotel, over a part of which was an awning about fifty feet in length, constructed to protect passengers who-
The plaintiff charges the defendant with negligence, in maintaining the awning in the position in which it
The general rule is, as claimed by the appellant, that a person who accepts employment with knowledge •of its .risks does so at his peril, and has no claim on his •employer for indemnity on account of such risks, and that if the employee remains in the service of his em
In Hosic v. C., R. I. & P. R’y Co., 75 Iowa, 683, it appeared that a brakeman had occasion to pass over a car which was so'loaded that the passage could not be made without danger to himself, and that he must have known that fact before he went upon the car. He attempted to pass over it, but fell from it to the ground, and received injuries for which he sought to recover. This court said that whether he was negligent in what he did depended upon all the circumstances of the case; that the efficiency of the railway service, and the due protection of life and property, require prompt obedi.ence to orders, and prompt discharge of duties, on the part of employees, especially in regard to the management of moving trains; and that it would not do to make the subordinate judge of the propriety of obeying an order. See, also, Frandsen v. C., R. I. & R’y Co., 36 Iowa, 372, 375.
In this case the remark of Forrest to the plaintiff, when the latter reached Hotel Orleans, showed irritation, by reason of supposed delay on his part, and a necessity for haste. The directions he then received were contrary to those given him at Estherville, and which he had communicated to his brakemen. When he was told that the brakes on the loaded cars were set, and, in effect, to loosen them, he was about one hundred feet east of the awning, and on the same side of the track. The cars were moving westward at an increas
The cases upon which appellant relies are not in conflict with the conclusions we reach. In McKee v. C., R. I. & P. Railway Co., 83 Iowa, 616, it appears that the employee injured exposed himself voluntarily, and, without any occasion to incur unusual risk, placed himself in a position in which he came in contact with a wing fence, of which he had knowledge,,and which he would have avoided had he used ordinary care. The facts involved in Platt v. C., St. P., M. & O. Railway Co., 84 Iowa, 694, were that the person injured knew before the accident occurred that the roof of the depot building projected over the track; that he was engaged in pushing a car along the track; that the car was higher and wider than ordinary freight cars, and that he knew that such was the ease; that there was no emergency which required him to expose himself to danger, but that, without looking for, or taking any precautions to avoid, danger, he ascended the car, and was caught between it and the roof of the building, and injured. In Bengston v. C., St. P., M. & O. Railway Co., 50 N. W. Rep. (Minn.) 531, it was held that the employee had
No reason for disturbing the judgment of the district court has been shown. It is, therefore, aeeibmed.