Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.

Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/August 24, 2017 by Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 16:41, 29 July 2017 (UTC)



Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. The case was heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York; its opinion was written by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo (pictured), later a Supreme Court justice. Helen Palsgraf was taking her daughters to the beach on an August day in 1924. As two men attempted to board a train before hers, one (aided by railroad employees) dropped a package that exploded, causing a large coin-operated scale on the platform to hit her. She sued the railroad, and obtained a jury verdict of $6,000, which the railroad appealed. Cardozo wrote for a 4–3 majority of the Court of Appeals, ruling that there was no negligence because the employees, in helping the man board, did not have a duty of care to Palsgraf as injury to her was not a foreseeable harm from aiding a man with a package. The jury verdict was overturned, and the railroad won the case. A number of factors, including the bizarre facts and Cardozo's outstanding reputation, made the case prominent in the legal profession, and it remains so, taught to most if not all American law students in torts class. Some legal scholars in recent years have criticized Cardozo for not taking into account Palsgraf's impoverished circumstances.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Not that many law articles
 * Main editors: Wehwalt
 * Promoted: 2017
 * Reasons for nomination: Anniversary of the explosion at East New York
 * Support as nominator. Wehwalt (talk) 08:09, 28 July 2017 (UTC)
 * Support bizarre case --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:33, 29 July 2017 (UTC)