Southern Pacific Co. v. Berkshire, 254 U.S. 415 (1921)

Southern Pacific Company v. Berkshire


No. 106


Submitted November 19, 1920
Decided January 3, 1921
254 U.S. 415

Syllabus

1. The installation of railway mail cranes so close to the track that the arm of a crane, when extended, comes as near as 14 inches to the window of an engine cab, thus becoming a source of danger to the engineer while in performance of his duty, is not negligence upon the part of the railroad company as respects its employees when such placing of the cranes is uniform along the railroad and done by direction of the Post Office Department pursuant to a plan it found necessary in handling the mails. P. 417.

2. Held that the question whether such installation was negligence should not have been submitted to the jury.

3. An experienced locomotive engineer who has operated many times over a railroad where mail cranes are set up close to the track must be presumed to have known the danger if his being struck by their projecting arms when leaning from his cab window in discharge of his duty, and must be held, as a matter of law, to have assumed the risk. P. 418.

207 S.W. 323 reversed.

The case is stated in the opinion.