St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad v. Van Zant
Supreme Court of Arkansas
Appeal from Craighead Circuit Court, Jonesboro District; Frank Smith, Judge; STATEMENT BY THE COURT. This suit was brought by Walter Van Zant, a minor, by his next friend, for damages for personal injuries, alleged to have been caused by the wrongful conduct of defendant’s employees in assaulting, beating and robbing him, and throwing him from a local train, upon which he claimed to have been a passenger.
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Appeal from Craighead Circuit Court, Jonesboro District; Frank Smith, Judge; STATEMENT BY THE COURT. This suit was brought by Walter Van Zant, a minor, by his next friend, for damages for personal injuries, alleged to have been caused by the wrongful conduct of defendant’s employees in assaulting, beating and robbing him, and throwing him from a local train, upon which he claimed to have been a passenger. The answer denied the material allegations of the complaint, and alleged that appellee boarded a work train, which was not authorized to, and did not, carry passengers, without the knowledge…
1Opinion of the Court
Kirby, J.,
(after stating the facts). It is contended that the court erred in giving these instructions, which, it is claimed, make the master liable for the tortious acts of his servants resulting in damages, without regard to whether the servant at the time was acting within the scope of his employment.
These instructions submit the question of the liability of the railroad to the payment of damages for the injuries inflicted upon the appellee upon the theory that he was a trespasser upon a train which did not carry passengers, and authorized them to find against the defendant if the injuries…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Sweeden v. Atkinson Improvement Co.Supreme Court of Arkansas · 1910
- St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. PellSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1908
3Cited by3 opinions
- American Railway Express Co. v. MackleySupreme Court of Arkansas · 1921
- Fuqua v. DeapoDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas · 1964
- Missouri Pacific Railroad v. RoddenSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1933