The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-16
STREET RAILWAY HAS
To INDEMNIFY CITY
Supreme Court Holds 1t Liable
for Accident on Rice Street
Bridge

The supreme court, Justice Lovely
5 writing the opinion, handed down yes
terday a decision sustaining the dis
trict court of Ramsey county in suit
of Importance to ST. Paul, inasmuch
as the suit establishes precedent that
accidents occurring on bridges over
which the street railway companys
lines are laid and which are directly
traeeable to defects in the street car
company's appliances, are chargeable
to the street railway company. The
court holds that there is nothing to
the plea of relative liability raised by
the street car company.
The action was brought by the. city
to enforce liability of a judgment OBJ
tanned against the city by Mrs. Kath-
crime Coveny for injuries sustained by
having her carriage wheels caught in
bent expansion plates on the Rice
street bridge, where she was thrown
out
The bridge was originally built by
the Great Northern Railway company
over its tracks, and later, by ordi-
!. nance, the street railway company was
authorized to operate it's tracks over
the bridge. The ordinance expressly
provided that the street railway COM
pany shall indemnify the city for any
claims for damages, expenses and
losses which may be found against the
city by travellers over the bridge.
Plates Were Not Repaired
Steel expansion plates were laid be-
tween the rails crossing the bridge,
and extended two feet on either side of
the double tracks. The plates had
been permitted to become loose and
out of repair, bent and turned upwards
to space of four inches above the
level of the roadway, rendering travel
dangerous. Mrs. Coveny's carriage
was caught by the bent plates and she
was thrown out. She sued the city,
and the street railway company did
not appear, though notified of the suit.
: The city defended, but the plaintiff
secured judgment, and in the suit de-
clded yesterday the city asked indem-
nifty of the street car company under
the terms of the ordinance by which it
was permitted to extend its lines
across the Rice street bridge.
The supreme court, in affirming the
lower court, says that the expansion
plates were divided into five parts, and
this division was made necessary by
the use of the bridge for street car
purposes. The defendant company had
notice of its defective condition, which
rendered the bridge unsafe and de-
fective, and it was inferred that the
defects occurred through public travel
and would not have occurred except
from the fact that the plates were laid
IN sections, made necessary by the
uses of the bridge for street car serv-
ice.
- The court holds that the accident
was due to defects of repair rather
than of construction, and says that
there is nothing to the theory of rela-
tive liability of the city and the street
railway company. The court, in it's
syllabus, says:
Holds Company Liable
1. Under the terms of an ordinance of
the City of st: Paul. defendant was per-
over the Rice street bridge and to operate
It's cars thereon. upon condition that it
was to indemnity the city for recoyeries
against it from injuries received by per
sons using the adjacent highway. The
ordinance was accepted by defendant.
and thereafter lady was thrown from a
carriage by reason of defects in main
tanning the portion of the highway occu-
pied by the tracks for which she recoy-
cred from the city. Held, in an action for
the indemnity provided for in the ordi-
nance that defendant was liable upon
innings of the trial court supported by
the evidence ~
3. Whether the requirements of the de-
Iendant company by the city to construct
the tracks in a certain manner relieved
the defendant. was not involved in the
case as 1t had adapted itself to the de-
mands of the municipality and the claim
pair rather than in the construction there
OF under findings of the court
Judgment affirmed. =
A case of much Importance to clerks