90 Ga. 562 | Ga. | 1892
1. The motion for a new trial assigns error upon various refusals of the court to charge the jury, as set forth in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and 11th grounds thereof, and also upon charges made .by the. court, • as stated in the 12th and 13th grounds, all of which will appear in the reporter’s statement. Without discussing these numerous grounds seriatim, we have endeavored, in the first head-note, to formulate and condense what we understand to be the law applicable. In the transaction of business between a railroad company and the public, there should be an exercise of good faith on both sides, and each should conscientiously endeavor to deal fairly with the other. In the matter of keeping an office open for the sale of tickets, the agent of the company should not so neglect the same as to subject passengers to unnecessary trouble, delay , and inconvenience in procuring their tickets; nor, on the other hand, should the temporary absence of the agent from his office on necessary business afford a passenger a pretext for failing to purchase a ticket when, by a little patience, he could easily
2. When a passenger for want of a reasonable opportunity to purchase a ticket has boarded a railroad train, and in consequence has a right to do so without a ticket, he is entitled to complete his journey by paying the conductor the ticket rate for his fare. There is no rule of law, of which we have any knowledge, requiring him to leave the train at a station en route and purchase a ticket back to the one whence he started, and another to his destination. A request to charge that the plaintiff was under any obligation to do this, was properly refused. The request was based on the idea that a ticket from the intermediate station to the station from which the plaintiff started, would have been good either
8. By one of defendant’s requests the court was asked, in effect, to instruct the jury that passengers are bound to use all reasonable care and diligence to conform to the rules of the railroad company. It is clear, without discussion, that a passenger would not be bound to conform to an unreasonable rule of the company. The request being wanting in this necessary qualification, was of course properly refused.
4. It cannot be denied that a railroad company, or any other person, has the right to employ a colored servant, and may require of such servant the performance- of all proper duties which fall within the scope of his employment. To establish the contrary of this proposition would lead to consequences utterly absurd and unreasonable, and would result in endless trouble and ineon.venience. This is too plain for argument, and consequently there can be no wrong or impropriety in the employment by a railroad company of a colored train-hand; and it is equally apparent that this train-hand may, if necessary, be called upon by the conductor to assist in ejecting a passenger from the train who has no right to be upon it. If the passenger is lawfully and rightfully ejected, he certainly would have no cause of action against the company merely because a colored employee assisted in putting him off. This being true, the wrongful ejection of a passenger is not aggravated by the fact that the conductor called upon a colored train-hand for assistance in making such ejection. Of course, we do not mean to intimate that there may not be aggravating circumstances attending the improper expulsion of a passenger from a train, which should increase the amount of his damages' for the wrong done him. Physical injuries, insults by word or act, personal
5. The jury in fixing the amount of damages which should be allowed to a passenger for a wrongful expulsion from a railroad train, may take into consideration all the surrounding facts and attending circumstances, including, of course, “the inconvenience he was put to by being put off.” This is one of the necessary elements in arriving at the proper amount to be allowed one upon whom a tort of this kind has been committed.
6. As this case will be tried again, we express no