Denver & Rio Grande R.R. v. Peterson

CHIEF JUSTICE CAMPBELL delivered the opinion of the court.
...The action was brought by appellee as plaintiff below to recover of the railroad company the sum of $89 on account of the failure by defendant to deliver to the plaintiff a certain hackney cart which defendant received from plaintiff, for the purpose of transporting the same as a common carrier for hire from some point in the east to the city of Colorado Springs. There is no question as to the delivery of the cart by plaintiff to defendant for the purpose designated, and the latter admits that it has never redelivered it to plaintiff. It justifies its failure to do so upon the ground that, through no fault of its own, the cart was destroyed in a fire which burned its freight depot at Colorado Springs in which the cart was stored. The plaintiff alleges that such fire was caused by the negligence of the defendant company. Upon the issues joined there was a judgment for plaintiff for $85, which the defendant has brought here for review.

...The plaintiff in his brief charges defendant with negligence in the following particulars: (a) That the railroad company negligently allowed inflammable material to accumulate and remain on its right of way around its freight depot, and that sparks from one of its engines reached this material, and set fire to it, which thence spread to the freight depot, and destroyed the cart. (b) That it operated one of its locomotives, which, because not properly equipped or kept in repair, emitted live sparks in passing the depot, which were allowed thus negligently to escape from the locomotive and start the fire in question. (c) That its freight depot and surrounding platforms were negligently constructed so that waste and inflammable material could and did accumulate under them. (d) That it negligently failed to provide any reasonable or adequate means for extinguishing fires in its freight depot. . . .

[The court reversed the trial court on the ground the verdict was "manifestly agianst the weight of the credible evidence." The court then considered other issuesthat might come up again in the new trial.]

...In the seventh instruction the court in defining the general duty of a warehouseman, among other things, said that it extended to the conduct of his agents and employees in the handling of articles entrusted to his care, and that the jury might also consider the value of the goods with which the warehouseman was likely to be entrusted, and his capacity for burdening himself without unjustifiable expense in the construction and maintenance of buildings in which they are to be stored. The objection to this is said to be that there was no charge of negligence against the agents or employees of the defendant in handling goods entrusted to its care, and that the capacity of a warehouseman is not a test of his liability. In case of another trial it is well to avoid mention of the conduct of defendant's agents and employees in handling goods, for that is not an element in this case; and the capacity of a warehouseman is not the true test of his liability. The care required of a warehouseman is the same, whether he be rich or poor. For, if the fact that he is rich requires of him greater care than if he possessed only moderate means or is poor, then, if he were extremely poor, the care required might be such as practically to amount to nothing; and no one would claim that such an uncertain and sliding rule should be the measure of his liability.