United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Denton v. Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Co., 284 U.S. 305 (1932)

Denton v. Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad Co.

No. 242

Argued December 11, 1931

Decided January 4, 1932

284 U.S. 305

Syllabus

l. When one person puts his servant at the disposal and under the control of another for the performance of a particular service for the latter, the servant, in respect of his acts in that service, is to be dealt with as the servant of the latter, and not of the former. P. 284 U. S. 308.

2. Railroad companies are required by statute to transport the mail "in the manner, under the conditions, and with the service prescribed by the Postmaster General," and one of his regulations

Page 284 U. S. 306

provides that they shall furnish the men necessary to handle the mails and to load them into the mail cars under the direction of a transfer clerk, a federal employee. Held that railroad companies are not liable for personal injuries resulting from the negligence of one of their employee while he was engaged in so loading mail, because his work at the time was work of the government, under control of a government gent. P. 309.

160 Miss. 850, 133 So. 656, affirmed.

Certiorari, post, p. 603, to review a judgment reversing a judgment recovered by the plaintiff in an action for personal injuries against two railroad companies.

Page 284 U. S. 307