56 Kan. 661 | Kan. | 1896
The opinion of the court was delivered by
: The court committed material error in some of the instructions given to the jury. There was no question in the case about machinery or appliances, but it is the duty of a railway company to exercise ordinary care to provide its employees with a reasonably safe place to work ; and in the present case this rule would apply to the side-track where Chambers was expected to make the coupling. This track was left by the company in an incomplete condition for want of ballast of earth or any other material; but it was error to say that it should be so kept as to be “ least likely to cause injuries, so far as this can reasonably be done.” This would be to impose upon the company the highest degree of diligence, whereas the law requires only ordinary care as to its employees.
There was no error in overruling the demurrer to the evidence, nor the motion for judgment in favor of the railway company on the answers of the jury to the particular questions of fact. Whether the railway company exercised ordinary care, and whether