Chester Field v. the New York Central Railroad

Summary

The Court affirmed the lower court’s judgment, holding that the trial court was correct in denying the defendants’ motion for nonsuit. The evidence that the railroad’s locomotives regularly dropped coals onto the track was deemed admissible and sufficient to create an inference of negligence, shifting the burden to the railroad to disprove negligence. Accordingly, the jury could consider whether the fire that destroyed the plaintiff’s wood and fence was caused by the defendants’ negligent conduct.