Reid v. San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad
Supreme Court of Utah
118 P. 1009 (1911)
Reid (plaintiff) sued the railroad (defendant), claiming its negligent failure to maintain fencing along its tracks let one of Reid's cows wander onto the tracks, where it was struck and killed. Reid won a verdict at trial, and the railroad appealed. The evidence showed the cow was killed near one of the fence's gates, but did not establish whether the cow passed through an open gate (for which Utah law made the landowner responsible) or through damaged, unrepaired fencing (for which the railroad would be responsible).
Whether a plaintiff meets the burden of proof when the evidence points with equal force to two possible explanations, one of which would make the defendant liable and the other would not.