Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad v. Cochran

1. Raimoad Company — ■Stockholdei Inability. A stockholder of a railroad company is not liable for the negligence of the officers, agents or employés of the company in the operation of its road. 2. --Company May Purchase Stock of Another Company. Under the laws of Kansas, a railroad company has the lawful right to purchase and hold stock of any other railroad company, the line of whose railroad constructed, or being constructed, connects with its own. 3. --Negligence of Connecting Company. Where the rights and powers of a railroad company are those of a stockholder only, in a . connecting railroad, the railroad company, on account of being a stockholder, is not liable for the negligence of the connecting railroad. 4. Ticket Agent for Two Connecting Companies — Inability. Where two connecting railroad companies use a station jointly, or hire one person to discharge the duties of ticket agent for both, and such person sells a ticket for carriage over one of the roads, the other company is not responsible for the road over which the ticket carries the passenger.

Error from Johnson District Court. On the 31st day of May, 1887, Joel Cochran, administrator of the estate of John M. Gibson, deceased, filed his petition in the district court of Johnson county, against the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad Company, alleging that — “The plaintiff herein complains of the defendant herein, for that on the 30th day of May, 1887, he was duly appointed and qualified, and letters of administration of the estate of John M. Gibson, deceased, were issued to him by the probate court of Johnson county, state of Kansas, as the administrator of said estate. And plaintiff further states that the defendant herein is now, and was at the date hereinafter first mentioned, a railroad corporation duly organized under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Kansas, and then owned and operated, and now owns and operates, a railroad known as the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad Company, and as such corporation and railroad company was then and is now operating and exclusively managing and controlling the Southern Kansas Railway Company, a corporation duly organized under the laws of the state of Kansas; that the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad Company was then and still is a common carrier of passengers for hire upon its trains into and through Douglas and Johnson counties, Kansas, and that the Southern Kansas Railway Company,so operated, managed and controlled by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad Company, was then and still is a common carrier of passengers for hire upon its trains of cars into and through Johnson county, Kansas, and then ran its trains of cars over and used defendant's tracks from Kansas City, Missouri, to Holliday, Kansas; and that the town or village of Holliday was then a regular station and depot, in Johnson county, Kansas, of the said Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad Company, on the main line of its said railroad; and that said town or village of Holliday, and the city of Olathe, in Johnson county, Kansas, were tb'Á regular stations or depots on the line of the Southern Kansas Railway. Plaintiff further states, on the 21st day of March, 1887, the plaintiff's intestate, John M. Gibson, had ridden as a passenger on a regular passenger train of cars of the defendant company from Lawrence and Eudora, Kansas, to Holliday station, and that upon that day, at Holliday aforesaid, John M. Gibson, now deceased, purchased from the defendant company's ticket agent at Holliday depot aforesaid a ticket entitling him to be transported on that day as a passenger thence to Olathe, Kansas, by and upon a regular passenger train of cars of (and then used by the defendant in the name) the Southern Kansas Railway Company; and that in order for John M. Gibson, now deceased, to get upon the regular passenger train of cars so then being operated, managed and controlled by the defendant company to be carried from Holliday to Olathe aforesaid, it became and was necessary for John M. Gibson, now deceased, to walk across the interjacent railroad tracks belonging to the defendant company, and then being used by said company and said Southern Kansas Railway Company with their locomotive engines and passenger and freight trains of cars (there being no other way for the decedent to get to and upon said train); and that while the decedent was in the act of walking across the interjacent railroad tracks aforesaid, at the station and upon the invitation of the defendant company, and for the sole purpose of boarding the regular passenger train of ears of the Southern Kansas Railway Company as aforesaid to be carried thence to Olathe aforesaid upon said train of cars, which was then at rest about two or three tracks remote from the platform of the defendant’s depot or ticket office, which said Southern Kansas train of cars did not then come to nor did it intend to then come to the platform of the depot, and which train was then about ready to start for Olathe aforesaid, and there then being no regular crossing across the interjacent tracks and no person there to warn him of danger, the defendant company then and there, to wit, on the 21st day of March, 1887, at Holliday aforesaid, carelessly, grossly, negligently, wantonly, and recklessly, by and through its servants and employés then in charge of and operating and running one of its freight trains of cars with a locomotive engine attached thereto and in motion, on one of said interjacent tracks of the defendant company, permitted the locomotive so attached to said freight train of cars last aforesaid (without any warning of any character to the decedent of danger) to run against, strike, come in contact with, and knock down and drag in a violent and forcible manner the said John M. Gibson, now deceased, without any fault, negligence or want of care on the part of the decedent, and that by reason of said locomotive engine so striking him and so knocking him down and dragging him, the decedent was greatly bruised, cut and mangled in and about his head, back, legs, arms and body, internally, and his right leg was broken; and in consequence thereof the decedent became sick, sore, and lame, and in consequence of the injuries so received as aforesaid he was confined to his bed, and suffered much mental and bodily pain and agony, from the said 21st day of March, 1887, until on or about the 30th day of March, 1887, when he died, intestate, at Olathe, Kansas; and that the injuries all and singular so received by him as aforesaid were the cause of the death of John M. Gibson, without any fault, negligence, or want of care on the part of said decedent contributing thereto. Plaintiff further states, that John M. Gibson, now deceased, left Mary A. Cochran ('ni& Gibson) and Elizabeth J. Adams (née Gibson) his only children him surviving, and are his only next of kin him surviving; and that by reason of the premises, all and singular, the said Mary E. Cochran and Elizabeth J. Adams, sole surviving children and sole next of kin aforesaid, have been greatly damaged by the death of John M. Gibson, now deceased, in and to the amount of $10,000, no part of which hath been paid. Plaintiff therefore as such administrator demands judgment against the defendant company herein for the sum of $10,000 so as aforesaid sustained, with costs of suit and equitable relief.” Trial had at the September term of the court for 1887, before the court with a jury. The court among other things charged the jury as follows.: “1. In this case the plaintiff charges the defendant company as being the owner, or operator, controller and manager of the Southern Kansas Railway Company at the time his intestate, Gibson, received his alleged injuries, and therefore I charge you that the question of liability and responsibility of the defendant company is one of fact to be determined by you from all the testimony in the case. “ 2. In determining the liability of the defendant company, the true test is, what company had the control, direction and management of said Southern Kansas Railway and of the men then operating the engines and passenger trains on said road, and especially the engine and passenger train on which the plaintiff’s intestate was endeavoring to take passage, if any; and in determining these questions it is your duty to take into consideration all the facts and circumstances proven by the evidence. “3. The fact that the officials of one railroad company are officials of another railroad company, standing alone, would not make the one responsible for the negligence or default of the other; neither would the mere fact of the one railroad owning stock or bonds of another railroad company make the former company responsible for the acts of the latter; but if you find from the evidence that the Southern Kansas Railway Company, for all practical purposes, was, at the time alleged, managed, controlled and operated by the defendant company, being used as an auxiliary and a part of the defendant company’s system of railroads, then and in that event the defendant company would ordinarily be responsible for the negligence, default or miscarriage of the Southern Kansas Railway Company, its agents and employés. “4. If in fact the defendant company exercised and assumed the actual control of the management and operation of said Southern Kansas Railway at the time of the alleged injuries, it would be liable for the negligence, if any, of the men in operating and managing the engines and passenger trains of the Southern Kansas Railway Company, in failing to bring its passenger trains to the platform of the depot to receive passengers, (if they did so fail,) even though the men. were at the time engaged in the business of another company, namely, the Southern Kansas Railway Company. “5. If the jury find that the general management of both roads is under the control of the same officials; that the boards of directors of both roads are substantially the same persons; that a majority of the said stock of said Southern Kansas Railway Company is owned by the Kansas City, Topeka & Western Railroad Company, which latter company is leased and and operated by said defendant company for its use and benefit, and that the balance of the stock of the said Southern Kansas Railway Company is owned by the defendant company; that both the defendant and the Southern Kansas companies use and occupy the same line of track from Kansas City, Mo., to Holliday, Kansas; that the same person is agent and ticket-seller for both companies at said station, Holliday; that the treasurer of said Southern Kansas Railway Company is also treasurer of the defendant company, and that the clerical work for said treasurer, pertaining to the Southern Kansas Company, is performed by the employés of the defendant company, and that the general officers and offices of both companies are both one and the same, you have a right to give such facts and circumstances due weight and consideration in arriving at your verdict.” “18. If you believe from the evidence that the defendant company was managing, and operating and controlling the Southern Kansas Railway Company on March 21,1887, and that said defendant company caused the said Southern Kansas Railway Company’s passenger train to stop at Holliday to receive passengers on said day to be carried for hire to Olathe, and that said defendant company then had a depot building and platform therewith connected at Holliday, aforesaid, for the purpose of receiving and discharging passengers to and from its own passenger trains and for the sale of tickets, and did then sell over said several railroads, then I charge you that it was the lawful duty of the defendant company to provide or furnish reasonably safe and convenient approaches to their several passenger coaches owned and managed, operated and controlled by said company, and it was the duty of said company to also use such approaches with care and due regard for the safety of passengers who were attempting to get upon such coaches by means of such approaches; and if, upon the said company failing to do so, an injury ensued to such passenger, then the said company will be held liable for injuries resulting therefrom, provided such injured person was not guilty of any fault or want of ordinary care, or of any negligence contributing thereto. “ 19. If the jury believe from the evidence that the deceased, on the 21st day of March, 1887, was a passenger on the defendant company’s passenger train from Eudora to Holliday, and that on reaching Holliday the deceased immediately purchased a ticket from the defendant company’s ticket agent at Holliday entitling the deceased to be carried as a passenger on the Southern Kansas Railway passenger train from Holliday to Olathe on said day, then managed, operated and controlled by said defendant company, and that said deceased on said day attempted to reach the Southern Kansas passenger train bound for Olathe, in the only way provided by the company to reach said train, which was then in waiting on a track at Holliday for passengers to Olathe, then I charge you that the deceased was a passenger at the time, and entitled to all the rights of such. “ 20. I charge you that a person who has a railroad ticket and who is present to take the train at the ordinary or usual point of departure designated by the railroad company, is a passenger, though he has not entered the car of the particular train; and in the duties toward him, directly involving his safety, the company is bound to extraordinary diligence; and in these duties touching his convenience or accommodation, the company is bound to ordinary diligence, and this rule of extraordinary diligence applies to the receiving of passengers. “21. When a carrier of passengers for hire by railway does not receive passengers into the car at the platform erected for that purpose, and either directs or impliedly invites passengers to enter the car at an out-of-the-way place, or at a place remote, some distance from such platform, it is the bounden duty of such company to use the utmost care in preventing injuries to passengers while so approaching to enter such car. And if you find in this case that the defendant company was negligent within the meaning of this instruction, and that the deceased was injured thereby, that the deceased did not contribute to such injury by his negligence, then the plaintiff is entitled to recover.” “23. When the arrangement of a passenger railroad station or depot, whether permanent or temporary, is such that a passenger has to cross a track before entering, then such passenger has a lawful right to assume that such track may be crossed safely, and that the company will not expose him to unnecessary danger; and while the passenger himself must exercise reasonable care and prudence, his watchfulness may be naturally diminished by his reliance upon the discharge by the company of its duty to passengers to provide them with ' a safe passage to the train of ears.” The jury returned a verdict against the railroad company for $900, and also found, among others, the following special findings of fact: “1. Was John M. Gibson, now deceased, carried by the defendant company on one of its passenger trains, as a passenger, from Eudora, Kansas, to Holliday, Kansas, on March 21,1887? A. Yes. “2. Did the deceased, on reaching Holliday, purchase a ticket from the defendant’s ticket agent at Holliday, entitling him to be carried on said day from Holliday to Olathe on a passenger train of the Southern Kansas Railway Company? A. Yes. “ 3. Had the defendant company the control, direction and management of the Southern Kansas Railway and of the men then operating the engines and passenger trains of the Southern Kansas Company, and especially the engine and passenger train upon which the deceased then intended o take passage? A. Yes.” “6. Was a majority of the stock of said Southern Kansas Railway Company then owned by the Kansas City, Topeka & Western Railroad Company? A. Yes. “7. Was the said Kansas City, Topeka & Western Railroad Company then leased and operated by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Eé Railroad Company, for its use and benefit ? A. Yes. “8. Was the balance of the stock of the Southern Kansas Railway Company then owned by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Eé Railroad Company? A. Yes.” “26. Was it negligence on the part of the defendant company, when considered with all the other circumstances, in not bringing the said Southern Kansas train up to the platform so that passengers might get upon it at the time referred to ? A. Yes. “27. At the time the passengers, including the deceased, left the platform to cross the tracks to get upon said Southern Kansas train, did any person connected with either the defendant company, or the Southern Kansas Railway Company, forbid or warn passengers not to cross the tracks ? A. No.” “ 30. Did the deceased then leave the platform of the depot building and attempt to cross the track intervening the platform and the Southern Kansas passenger train referred to, for the purpose of getting upon said train to be carried from Holliday to Olathe as a passenger? A. Yes.” Judgment was entered upon the verdict of the jury. The Railroad Company excepted, and brings the case here.