Rocco v. Lehigh Valley Railroad

Mr, Justice Roberts

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The petitioner’s husband, while riding a track inspection tricycle, was killed in a head-on collision with an electrically operated passenger train on a single track branch of the respondent’s railroad connecting Ithaca and Auburn, New York. The line, which skirted the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake, was subject to washouts in stormy weather. Primarily to protect four daily passenger trains, the decedent, Rocco, an experienced employee, was assigned to inspect a section extending from Ithaca to a point about 7% miles north of that city. His…