196 Ky. 454 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1922
Opinion op the-Court by
Reversing.
This is an appeal from a judgment awarding appellee $1,500.00 damages for personal injuries which she received while a passenger on .a Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific train, then operated by the Director General of Railroads.
The refusal of a directed verdict is the principal ground urged for reversal.
The facts are these: Mrs. Moore and her daughter, Mrs. Peck, were on an accommodation train going from Cincinnati to McKinney, Ky. They were both seated ill the front end of the ladies’ coach. Mrs. Moore faced
For appellant the conductor testified that he saw the boy on the train while he was riding in the smoker. He was with another boy and they were perfectly quiet. There was nothing in his demeanor, appearance or conduct to indicate that he was drinking- or crazy. When the train pulled into Williamstown, the conductor was on the front end of the train where his duty required him to be. The last time he was in the smoking- compartment was when the train was leaving Dry Ridge, three miles from Williamstown, and there was no disorder of any kind in the coach. The flagman testified that he saw the boy who struck Mrs. Moore several times as he passed through the smoking compartment, and there was nothing disorderly in his conduct or appearance. About a half mile before they reached Williamstown, he called the station and opened'up the vestibule door for
The law applicable to a case of this kind may be stated as follows: Carriers are not insurers of the absolute safety of their passengers, or of their entire immunity from the misconduct of fellow passengers, though there is an implied obligation, growing out of the contract between the. carrier and the passenger, that the former shall afford to the latter reasonable protection and immunity from the insults, violence, and wanton interference of fellow passengers, intruders, or the carrier’s servants. Out of this obligation and the doctrine that carriers of passengers are required to use the utmost care in the management of their trains in order to prevent or avoid injury to their passengers, arises the rule that makes it the duty of carriers to exercise the highest practicable degree of care and diligence in protecting, and guarding their passengers from violence and assaults from whatever source, which may be reasonably anticipated or naturally expected to occur under the circumstances of the case and the condition of the parties; and where a passenger is injured because of the carrier’s failure to perform this duty, the carrier is re
Judgment reversed and cause remanded for a new trial consistent with this opinion. •