93 Ga. 566 | Ga. | 1894
Addington brought an action against the Western & Atlantic Railroad Company for the alleged, breach of a contract, by the terms of which the defendant had agreed to give him permanent employment in its ser- • vice, in consideration of his releasing the company from all claim for damages resulting from a personal injury inflicted upon him.
In support of the declaration, he proved that he had been seriously injured while in the service of the company, and that the company’s superintendent, J. L. ■McCollum, in consideration of his releasing the company as above mentioned, had agreed to give him “per_
The defendant introduced in evidence a paper of which the following is a copy: “ While employed by the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, lessee of ■the Western & Atlantic Railroad Company, upon its road, I was injured on or about the 5th day of April, by getting knocked off of train at E. T., V & G. •crossing. And the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway, lessee of the Western. & Atlantic Railroad, having paid me one hundred and twenty-eight dollars .and ninety-five cents, in full of all wages due me to date, and in-full for all damages which I have sustained on account of said injury, I hereby acknowledge receipt of said sum in full satisfaction, as aforesaid, and in full of all demands to this date. [Signed] H. W. Addington. Atlanta, Ga., May 13th, 1891.”
"Whether the plaintiff' was estopped by the above written instrument from proving that the contract to employ him was the main consideration which induced, him to sign this paper; or if not, whether the case falls within the statute of frauds, are questions not before us for determination. As already stated, there was no objection to the proof indicated, nor was there any plea, of the statute of frauds. The only question, therefore, is: was the plaintiff, upon the naked merits of the case, entitled to a recovery ?
We do not think it so clearly appeared that he was not entitled to at least nominal damages as to authorize the court to direct a verdict against him. He certainly proved the contract, and also a breach of it, unless the continuance of McCollum in his position as superintendent of the company up to the time of the plaintiff’s discharge was an essential fact. If it was not, the proof of the breach was complete. If it was, then, though it was not affirmatively shown that McCollum was still in the service of the company as superintendent at the time of the plaintiff’s discharge, we are not-prepared to say there were no facts in evidence from which the jury might not have reasonably so inferred. This being so, they would have been authorized by the evidence, aided by reasonable inference therefrom, to. find that there was a breach of the contract, and this would have entitled the plaintiff' to nominal damages-
We quote, as appropriate in this connection, the following from Marcy, J., in Herrick v. Stover, 5 Wend. 587: “It is said by Ashurst, Justice, in Edmonson v. Machell, that ‘ an application for new trial is an application to the discretion of the court, who exercise that discretion in such a manner as will-best answer the ends of justice.’ But where a record is brought into this court for revision, and error is found in it, is it a matter of discretion in us whether we will correct that error or not? I have always supposed that the party who has been affected by an error, be the extent of that injury ever so small, can require of us ex debito justitice to correct it.” And in Wilson v. Rastall, 4 T. R. 758, Lord Kenyon said: “There is not a single instance where a
While the case, as now presented, appears to have but little merit, we feel constrained, upon principle, to order a new trial, so that the rights of the plaintiff, .whatever they are, may be passed upon and determined by a jury. It is.more important for-the courts to-uphold .the great right of trial by jury than for any particular party to win or lose a given case. Judgment reversed.