## Facts

- W. G. Kennedy served as overseer on the plantation owned by M. F. Mason (through Mrs. Mason, the plantation owner sued in this case).
- Kennedy sued Mrs. Mason for **$600** he claimed was owed for his services as overseer.
- Mrs. Mason defended on the ground that a slave she owned, **Jim (also called “Jim Crack”)**, died because of Kennedy’s conduct, and that the value of the loss should be **recouped/offset** against any wages Kennedy claimed.
- On the winter evening of **January 5, 1852**, Jim Crack was captured after running away and returned to the plantation at about **7:00 p.m.**
- Although it was late and **very cold**, Kennedy stripped Jim naked, tied him **facedown to the cold ground**, and beat him with a **hand-saw and a whip** for about **an hour and a half**.
- After the beating, Jim was taken to his cabin and was found **dead about four hours later**.
- A physician conducted a postmortem examination the next day and testified that, while Jim had cuts and bruises, **the beating alone would not ordinarily have caused death**; the physician attributed death to **the combined circumstances**, stating Jim likely died from the cold and that the timing and circumstances of the punishment were **imprudent** (poor judgment).
- The trial court ruled for Mrs. Mason, effectively denying Kennedy recovery on his wage claim based on the loss attributed to his conduct, and Kennedy appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether an overseer who sues for wages may be denied recovery when the plantation owner proves the overseer’s imprudent punishment caused the death of the owner’s enslaved person, permitting the owner to recoup the loss as an offset.
2. Whether causation is established when medical testimony indicates death resulted from the combined effects of whipping and severe cold exposure, even if the whipping alone would not usually be fatal.

## Decision

- The Louisiana Supreme Court **affirmed** the judgment for Mrs. Mason and **denied** Kennedy recovery on his wage demand.
- The court accepted that the punishment’s **manner, timing, duration, and conditions**—stripping Jim, tying him to the ground, and beating him in extreme cold at night—supported a finding of fault by the overseer.
- On causation, the court treated the death as resulting from the **combined effects** of Kennedy’s conduct and the surrounding conditions he created; Kennedy could not avoid responsibility by isolating the whipping from the exposure.
- Because the owner’s loss (the death of Jim) was attributable to Kennedy’s wrongful conduct, Mrs. Mason could **recoup/offset** that loss against Kennedy’s claimed wages, defeating his claim.

## Legal Principles

- A servant or employee’s claim for compensation may be reduced or barred when the employer proves damages caused by the servant’s wrongful conduct and asserts those damages by **recoupment/offset** in the same suit.
- Legal causation may rest on the **combined operation** of acts and conditions set in motion by the defendant; liability is not avoided merely because one component, taken alone, might not usually cause death.
- Even where an overseer has authority to discipline, that authority is limited by a duty to use **reasonable judgment and care**; punishment administered under dangerous conditions (such as severe cold and exposure while unclothed and restrained) can be treated as wrongful when it creates a serious risk of death.

## Conclusion

In *Kennedy v. Mason*, the Louisiana Supreme Court held that an overseer could not recover wages where the plantation owner showed that the overseer’s nighttime punishment of a runaway slave—carried out by stripping him, tying him to the ground in extreme cold, and beating him for an extended period—was imprudent and led to death from the combined effects of injury and exposure; the owner was entitled to recoup the resulting loss as an offset that defeated the wage claim.


Kennedy v. Mason, 10 La. Ann. 519 (1855)