## Facts

- Albert H. Brown owned a stone post and street lamp located on his land in Tilton, New Hampshire, near the traveled portion of a public highway.
- Lester Collins drove a wagon loaded with grain along the highway near a railroad crossing.
- An approaching locomotive frightened Collins’s horses, which became unmanageable and ran into Brown’s stone post, breaking the post and destroying the lamp.
- The collision threw Collins from the wagon, causing only slight injury.
- The parties agreed Collins used ordinary care and skill in managing the team until the horses became frightened and uncontrollable.
- Brown sued Collins in trespass for the value of the destroyed post and lamp based on an agreed statement of facts to test whether Brown could recover despite Collins’s lack of fault.

## Issues

1. Whether a defendant is liable in trespass for property damage caused when his horses, without negligence or other fault, become uncontrollable due to an external fright and enter another’s land.

## Decision

- The court entered judgment for Collins.
- Collins was not liable in trespass because the intrusion and damage were not caused by any fault, negligence, malice, or unlawful conduct on his part.
- The court declined to treat accidental, non-negligent entries as imposing liability merely because damage resulted.

## Legal Principles

- Trespass liability for accidental invasions does not attach where the defendant acted with ordinary care and the intrusion occurred against the defendant’s will due to forces beyond his control.
- The state does not recognize a general rule that a person “acts at his peril” and must pay for all consequences of conduct regardless of fault in cases of unavoidable accident.
- Imposing liability for non-negligent, unintended harm would improperly convert the actor into an insurer for unavoidable injuries.

## Conclusion

Because Collins exercised ordinary care and the horses’ loss of control was caused by an external fright rather than any actionable fault, Brown could not recover in trespass for the damage to the post and lamp.


Brown v. Collins, 53 N.H. 442 (N.H. 1873)