United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. Berry, 286 U.S. 272 (1932)

Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. Berry

No. 703

Argued April 26, 1932

Decided May 16, 1932

286 U.S. 272

Syllabus

When a freight train stopped at night to await the throwing of a switch, the caboose, occupied by the conductor and the rear brakeman, was resting on a trestle. The conductor ordered the brakeman to get out and go ahead, to fix a hot-box in a forward car which had demanded attention earlier in the trip; but he did not require him to alight from the caboose, rather than from any of the other cars which were not in as dangerous a position. Taking his lantern, the brakeman stepped from the caboose, fell into a ravine and was hurt. It did not appear that either man knew that the caboose was on the trestle; their opportunities of observation were the same, and there was no evidence of any rule or practice making it the duty of a conductor to find safe landing places for trainmen before requiring them to alight. Held, that there was no evidence of any breach of duty by the railroad company, and that, if negligence was the cause of the accident, it was the negligence of the brakeman. P. 286 U. S. 275.

43 S.W.2d 782 reversed.

Certiorari, 285 U.S. 532, to review a judgment sustaining a recovery from the railroad company in an action for personal injuries under the Federal Employers' Liability Act.

Page 286 U. S. 273