United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Jones, 276 U.S. 303 (1928)

Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Jones

No. 349

Argued March 8, 1928

Decided March 19, 1928

276 U.S. 303

Syllabus

An experienced car inspector was found dead with his lantern at night between a track on which a freight train was being made up and the main track parallel to it, over which a train, by which he was probably killed, had passed with much noise and a bright light, but with bell silent, twenty minutes before his body was discovered. He was last seen alive twenty minutes before the train passed. There were indications that there was nothing to inspect at the time when the accident occurred.

Held, that a verdict of damages based on the assumption that he was engaged in inspecting the freight cars, relying on the customary ringing of the bell, and so absorbed in his work that he did not hear the approaching train was mere guesswork. P. 276 U. S. 304.

291 S.W. 528 reversed.

Certiorari, 275 U.S. 514, to a judgment of the Supreme Court of Texas which, reversing the Court of Civil Appeals, affirmed a judgment for damages recovered from

Page 276 U. S. 304

the railway in an action under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. The judgment of the Supreme Court was entered on the recommendation of the Commission of Appeals. See 282 S.W. 312; 287 id. 304.