Jesus Maria Rancho v. Southern Pacific Co.

This is an action for damages for the loss of cattle killed by the appellant’s railroad trains. The complaint sets up four causes of action. The first of these seeks to recover for the loss of twb cows on January 25, 1912; the second for the loss of four cows on September 6, 1912; the third for the loss of a cow and calf on April 2, 1913, and the fourth for loss of a yearling heifer on April 28, 1913. Judgment was rendered in favor of respondent on all of the causes of action, and the appeal is from the judgment and from an order denying appellant’s motion for a new trial.

While all four causes of action are based upon the alleged negligence of appellant in failing to maintain proper fences along its right of way, three of them—the first, third, and fourth—give rise to certain novel questions and, in a measure, may be considered together. The points presented under the second cause of action will be reserved for separate treatment in a later portion of the opinion.

The cattle were all killed near the Pacific Ocean, at a place where the country is composed of sand, which shifts and changes into banks and dunes at different points with the blowing of the winds. There is much…