49 S.E. 165 | N.C. | 1904
The material facts are thus briefly stated by the defendant: This is the plaintiff's appeal from a judgment sustaining the *356 defendant's demurrer. The complaint states that the plaintiff was a girl of sixteen, living in Weldon, the daughter of Isaac E. Green; that the defendant telegraph company maintained offices at Weldon and Columbia, and on 23 September, 1903, she left Weldon to go to Spartanburg, S.C., via Columbia, and that it was necessary for her to remain over in Columbia during the night. That the agent of the defendant company at Weldon was acquainted with the young lady and her father, and the father informed the agent that he greatly desired some one to meet his daughter in Columbia. That immediately after the train on which the young lady was traveling left Weldon, her father, Dr. Green, delivered the following message to the defendant's agent in Weldon, directed to "Mrs. Jno. B. Lee, 2010 Main Street, Columbia, S.C."
"Willie leaves here on Coast Line train 39 today. Meet her. "I. E. GREEN."
This message was taken as addressed to "Mrs. Knoblee, (490) 2010 Main Street," and was not delivered until the next morning, when Mrs. John B. Lee inquired for it at the telegraph office at Columbia.
The plaintiff, Miss Willie Green, arrived in Columbia about 12 o'clock the same night, and found no one to meet her. She was naturally disturbed and anxious; the conductor put her in charge of the colored matron at the station in Columbia, the matron secured a hack, and after some delay she was driven to the house of her friend, Mrs. Lee; that by reason of this negligence upon the part of the defendant the plaintiff suffered mental anguish.
Upon this the defendant demurred to the complaint, for that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute the cause of action which, under the circumstances set forth, entitled the plaintiff to recover damages for so-called mental anguish, and that the disappointment and annoyance which the plaintiff calls mental anguish, arising under the circumstances set out in the complaint, is not a legal ground for damages for mental anguish. His Honor sustained the demurrer, and the plaintiff appealed. The defendant in its brief thus states the question intended to be presented: "This case baldly presents the question, which it has been apparent *357 would soon arise, whether the barriers are to be thrown down and every disappointment, annoyance or vexation which may arise from a delay or a misdirected telegram can be the subject of an action for mental anguish. In other words, whether any annoyance, disappointment, vexation or anxiety on account of a missing friend at the station, or from other cause, can be dignified by the name of mental anguish, and adjudged (491) to rank in the same class with the poignant grief arising from a failure to reach the bedside of a dying wife in time to receive her last adieus."
We are fully aware of the importance of the question thus presented, and have given it the careful consideration which it deserves. We do not desire to impose any additional burdens upon telegraph companies or require any unnecessary restrictions; but we can not ignore the essential purposes of their creation. A telegraph company is a quasi public corporation — private in the ownership of its stock, but public in the nature of its duties. It has all the powers of a private corporation, such as a separate legal existence, perpetual succession and freedom from individual liability; and possesses also in addition thereto, the extraordinary privileges which under our Constitution can be exercised only by such corporations as are organized for a public purpose, and then only when necessary for the proper fulfillment of such purpose. Among the extraordinary privileges enjoyed by such corporations is the condemnation of private property, which can never be taken for a private purpose. The acceptance of such privileges at once fixes upon the corporation the indelible impress of a public use. A telegraph company is essentially public in its duties. Without such public duties there would be neither reason for its creation nor excuse for its continued existence. In fact, being the complement of the postal service, it is one of those great public agencies so important in its nature and far reaching in its application that some of our wisest statesmen have deemed its continued ownership in private hands a menace to public interests. Hence it follows, both upon reason and authority, that the failure of a telegraph company to promptly and correctly transmit and deliver a message received by it is a breach of a public duty imposed by operation of law. In the words of a great English Judge: "A breach of this duty is a breach of the (492) law, and for this breach an action lies, founded on the common law, which action wants not the aid of a contract to support it." This has been expressly held by this Court in Cashion v. Telegraph Co.,
It is said by the defendant that "It does not require to be pointed out that if the barriers are once thrown down, and the disappointment, annoyance or unnecessary alarm occasioned by a delayed telegram shall be allowed to be the subject of damages, every barrier which the law has erected in the limitation *359 of actions for damages will be thrown down and the waters will be out in deluge." We do not think that any such result will follow our decision in this case; but such a possibility should not deter us from giving to the plaintiff the full measure of justice to which she is entitled. The defendant in its brief quotes the following extract from the decision of this Court in Chappell v. Ellis, 123 N.C. on page 263, which we may here repeat: "But it is urged that the principle of the Cashion case, if carried to its fullest extent, would directly lead to the recovery of damages for all kinds of mental suffering. It may be, but we feel compelled to carry out a principle only to its necessary and logical results, and not to its furthest theoretical limit in disregard of other essential principles. * * * We do not feel at liberty to adopt any one principle as the sole guide of our decisions and to carry it out to extreme and (494) dangerous limits, regardless of other great principles of justice and of law so firmly established by reason and precedent." As we have already said, we are now considering the question of damages resulting from the breach of a public duty by a quasi public corporation. How far this principle may in the future be extended to other corporations or to other circumstances we cannot tell; and in the absence of any matter before us involving its further consideration, we have neither the right nor the wish to limit or extend its application as a pure matter of legal speculation. As the cases come up we will decide them as best we may. In the meantime we will try to confine our opinion to the facts of this case and others identical therewith. We may, however, say that there seems a material difference between an incidental tort by an individual or a private corporation and the breach of a quasi public corporation of a public duty relating to the essential object of its creation. The exact nature of this difference it is difficult and at present unnecessary to determine.
It is true no case has been called to our attention in which this Court has allowed damages for mental anguish arising from the failure to deliver a telegram except in cases relating to sickness or death. On the other hand, we are not aware of any case in which this Court has drawn any such distinction either in the allowance or disallowance of damages. The nearest approach to any such limitation that the diligence of the learned counsel for the defense, aided by our own research, has been able to find isChappell v. Ellis,
Both before and since that opinion was rendered this Court has recognized the doctrine in cases merely of sickness. (496) While one may lead to the other there is a vast difference between sickness and death, and there seems no reason why principles recognized in the former should not apply to kindred cases of equal strength and importance. While we find no direct decision of the question in any of our cases, we think that their line of reasoning tends to recognize the legal existence of mental suffering apart from sickness and death. This is especially so in Young v. Telegraph Co.,
In neither Bright's nor Cashion's case was the plaintiff the sendee of the message, nor was she deprived of the satisfaction of attending the death or burial of the deceased. In both cases she sued on account of the absence of a relative to whom she looked for consolation and assistance. The death of the deceased was the occasion rather than the cause of the anguish for which she recovered. In cases where great stress is laid upon the fact of sickness or death, it is with the view of fixing the defendant with notice of the importance of the message where it has received no special information, like those cases where near relationship is relied on simply to (497) raise the presumption of suffering. In Lyne v. Telegraph Co.,
Another significant fact is the growing tendency of judicial *362
opinion to allow compensatory damages for mental suffering even when not connected with any physical suffering. This is forcibly illustrated in the case of Osborn v. Leach,
Of course, in cases merely of slander or libel there could be no physical pain except as the reaction of mental suffering. The mere fact that shock to the feelings which goes directly to the mind without ever touching the body may produce such reaction upon the physical system as even to endanger life itself is per se the surest proof of the existence of actual suffering and the strongest argument for the allowance of compensatory damages. If such suffering actually results directly from the wrongful act of the defendant, it would seem to make but little difference what were the collateral circumstances.
The case at bar was ably and elaborately argued, orally and by brief, on both sides; and in the end we find ourselves compelled to decide the question upon the reason of the thing rather than any weight of decided authority. Of course we could not look for precendents where the doctrine of mental anguish is not recognized; and even where it is, the facts of the respective cases generally fall short of direct application. With few exceptions, as in our own State, the element of death or sickness appears directly or indirectly in the case; but, as with us, we find no decision containing any such limitation of the (499) doctrine. The cases most nearly in point are those of Telegraph Co. v. Procter,
In Proctor's case the Court held, quoting head-note, that: "R eloped with plaintiff's daughter, aged fifteen years, going towards the county seat to procure license and be married. Plaintiff at once telegraphed the County Clerk, stating the girl's age and forbidding the issuance of license, but through negligent delay in the delivery of the message it did not reach the clerk until after the license had been issued and the parties married: Held, that plaintiff was entitled to recover of the telegraph company damages for the loss of his daughter's services up to the age of eighteen, and also for the mental distress involved." In that case the Court, on page 304, says: "We think, also, that he was entitled to recover for the mental distress involved. We can not distinguish this case, in principle, from (500)Telegraph Company v. Stuart,
Although not a telegraph case, we are much impressed with the reasoning of the Court in R. R. v. Kaiser,
In the recent case of Gillespie v. R. R.,
We have quoted from this opinion because it unequivocally asserts the principle that a plaintiff can recover in tort compensatory damages for purely mental suffering, without any physical pain whatever, resulting from the breach of public duty by a common carrier. Telegraph and railroad companies are in their nature essentially similar as being quasi-public corporations organized for a public purpose and fixed with a public use. For the breach of a public duty they (502) are both liable in tort, and we see no reason why similar injuries arising from such breach of duty should not be governed by similar principles. That it is well settled in railroad cases is abundantly shown by the authorities cited in the last named case; and we think that those authorities are applicable by analogy to the case at bar. For this reason we have not deemed it necessary to cite the decisions allowing compensatory damages for mental suffering, without any physical pain, in such cases as seduction, breach of promise, slander and libel, malicious arrest and prosecution, false imprisonment, criminal conversation, and kissing a female against her will.
The defendant apparently relies upon McAllen v. Telegraph Co.,
We are struck with the phrase so often used, notably by Joyce on Electric Law, "Telegrams as to sickness, death, or the like." The meaning of the last three words is not defined; but there is an unwelcome suggestion upon which the mind refuses to dwell, of what might happen to a defenseless girl in the deserted streets of a city at midnight that may well be likened to death itself. (503)
In this connection we have endeavored to ascertain the latest decisions of the courts of the different States upon this subject. When we remember that this doctrine of mental *366 anguish in telegraph cases is of recent origin, having theretofore been deemed contrary to the principles of the common law, and has made constant progress in opposition to the preconceived ideas of courts and jurists, it seems that it must possess much inherent strength and merit. This is especially evident from the actions of certain courts, some of them of the highest reputation, which, while denying the doctrine in telegraph cases that damages for mental suffering may be recovered in the absence of physical pain or injury, allow it in cases of a kindred nature such, for instance, as insulting or humiliating a passenger.
The following is the present status of the doctrine in the different States as far as we have been able to ascertain. Its history in the State of Texas, where it was first specially announced, may be briefly stated as follows: The first case in that court is the celebrated one of So Relle v.Telegraph Company,
In Tennessee the doctrine was first announced in Wadsworth v. Telegraph Company, 2 Pickle, 695, and has been reaffirmed (504) in Telegraph Company v. Mellen,
In Alabama the doctrine was expressly recognized in Telegraph Company v.Henderson,
In Kentucky the leading case, in which such damages are allowed, isChapman v. Telegraph Company,
In Iowa damages for mental anguish unaccompanied by physical pain are allowed. The leading case is Mentzer v. Telegraph Company,
In Louisiana such damages are allowed. The leading and most recent case is Graham v. Telegraph Company,
In Nevada the doctrine has been recently adopted in the case of Barnesv. Telegraph Company,
In South Carolina they are also allowed. At first the doctrine was denied in Lewis v. Telegraph Company,
In Washington there does not appear to be any decision upon a telegraph case, but the principle is fully recognized in Davis v. R. R.,
The doctrine is denied in the following States, as is shown by the most recent cases:
Florida: Telegraph Company v. Saunders,
Georgia: Chapman v. Telegraph Company,
Illinois: Telegraph Company v. Halton,
Indiana: Telegraph Company v. Ferguson,
Kansas: West v. Telegraph Company, 39 Kansas, 93, appears to be the latest telegraph case in that State involving the question; but that case has been reaffirmed in Railway Company v. Dalton, 65 Kansas, 161.
Minnesota: Francis v. Telegraph Company,
Mississippi: Rogers v. Telegraph Company,
Ohio: Morton v. Telegraph Company,
West Virginia: Davis v. Telegraph Company,
Wisconsin: Summerfield v. Telegraph Company,
Virginia: Connelly v. Telegraph Company,
In the following States there have been no decisions in telegraph cases upon the question so far as we have been able to ascertain: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, (506) Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming.
As the primary doctrine of mental anguish in telegraph cases has been too long and firmly settled by this Court to be now called in question, if decided cases stand for aught; and we feel impelled by both reason and authority to apply these principles to the case at bar, the judgment of the Court below is reversed and the demurrer overruled.
Reversed.
CONNOR, J., concurs in result.
Cited: Dayvis v. Tel. Co.,