46 So. 146 | Miss. | 1908
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of tbe court.
Tbe only question in tbis case is as to the right of tbe appellee to recover punitive damages. . Tbe judgment in tbe court below was for $438.91, manifestly a judgment for punitive damages. Tbe case.in brief is tbis: E. W. Reid, desiring to go with bis wife and children from Magnolia, Miss., to tbe World’s Eair at St. Louis, Mo., in September, 1904, went to tbe ticket agent at Magnolia to purchase a ticket to St. Louis and return — a special excursion ticket calling for continuous passage. Tbe return portion of tbis ticket was to be signed by him before tbe agent of tbe railroad company in St. Louis, according to tbe custom in such cases. When be purchased the ticket from Groce, tbe ticket agent of tbe appellant at Magnolia, Groce asked him whether be wanted No 2 — that is tbe fast train going north — • to stop for him, and Reid told him be did, and Reid asked tbe ticket agent while purchasing the ticket, whether No. 3 would stop for him on bis return trip, and tbe agent said in substance that it would. Reid’s testimony, to be exact,' is as follows: “When I bought tbe ticket, be \i. e. Groce] asked me if I wanted No. 2 to stop, and I told him that I did; and after I signed the' ticket I said: ‘No. 3 will stop for me coming back will it?’ And be said, ‘Yes.’” Reid further testifies that- be always understood that No. 2, when going north, stopped for any passenger north of Grenada, Miss. Acting on tbe faith of tbis contract made with tbis ticket agent, Reid purchased a special excursion ticket and went with bis family to St. Louis. When be got ready to come back, be says that- be went to tbe ticket office at St. Louis, and signed bis ticket in the presence of the agent, and bought bis Pullman berths to Magnolia. He states that tbe ticket agent of tbe appellant company
Up to this point it will be seen that every official of the ap-: pell ant charged with the duty of selling the ticket in the first place, and of accepting and stamping and witnessing the re-"tum portion of the ticket in the second place, and the gateman <on guard at the Union Depot in the third iilace, and ¿he conductor on train No. 3 in the fourth place, each and all acted in strict conformity with the special contract made between the appellee and the ticket agent who sold him the excursion ticket at Magnolia. The appellee acted manifestly on the faith of this -contract, and expected to be put off in accordance with it on liis return. He then proceeds to say that when he got near to McComb City on his return the conductor came through the car •and handed him something, and that he asked the conductor what it was, and the conductor said it was his ticket. He then says: “I asked him what I wanted with it, and he said, ‘You
In addition to all this testimony, absolutely overwhelming,
W. B. Groce, the ticket agent, and a witness for the defendant, testifies that Beid asked him if No. 3 would stop for him on his return, and that he told Beid that he did not suppose that he (Beid) would experience any trouble in getting it to stop; that it had stopped for other people on similar occasions. This is the positive testimony of the l-ailroad ticket agent himself. Surely the jury were warranted in believing that this special contract was made, and that Beid boarded the train on the faith of this contract and this representation made by the ticket agent. Further than this Groce says, in answer to a question as to what he meant by other persons getting off on similar occasions', that he meant that the train generally stopped to let off Chicago and St. Louis passengers; that he did not know how often they had done this; that sometimes it would be once or twice a week; and this, too, was the positive testimony of a witness introduced by the railroad company, and that witness the ticket agent himself. IIow it is possible for the railroad company to contend, in the
This is the case made by the testimony, except that there is a good deal of testimony, the object of which was to show that there was trouble and bad feeling between the Lámptons and the appellant company in respect to stopping this through train at Magnolia; that there had been litigation about this, and a contest before the state railroad commission, etc. We say nothing as to all this. It seems to us to be utterly immaterial, in any view, for the proper decision of this cause. The question here is, not-what state of feeling might exist between the Lamptons and the railroad company, but whether, in this particular case, the conduct of the conductor of this appellant company in this case, as made by ail the testimony which we have hereinbefore set out, was wilful and wanton. It must be too clear for any further comment that the jury were abundantly warranted in believing that the special contract was made between Groce and Reid; that the ticket agent did agree with Reid that No. 3 should stop for him on his return; that Reid acted on the faith of this special contract and the faith of this representation of this duly constituted ticket agent; and that every official of this appellant company connected with his transportation, whether in Mag
We thought we had disposed of this With sufficient clearness and sufficient emphasis in Railroad Co. v. Harper, 83 Miss. 560, 35 South. 764. At page 570 of 83 Miss., page 767 of 35 South., we said: “It is idle to argue that the conductor, flatly refusing to listen to a perfectly reasonable explanation made by the woman, and putting her off, under the circumstances detailed in the evidence, at night, was not guilty of such intentional and oppressive wrong done as to warrant the imposition of punitive damages. It may as well be understood, once for all, that this court proposes to stand by the doctrine announced in the Drummond and Riley cases as the just and true doctrine.” We quoted in that case from the opinion of Mr. Justice Lamar in New York, etc., R. Co. v. Winters Administrator, 143 U. S., at page 69 etseq., 12 Sup. Ct. at page 359, 36 L. Ed. 71, the following passage, which we again repeat, in the earnest hope that we may not be called upon to state it a third time: “The grounds upon which it is insisted that the evidence referred to was inadmissible are that the ticket itself, and the
We expressly held, in the Harper case that, if the company had any such rule, as here contended for, that the conductor must be governed by the face of the mere ticket alone, which may be but a part of the contract, then such regulation, not known to the passenger, is unreasonable and void, and we reiteróte again that declaration. What was the doctrine of the Riley case, 68 Miss. 765, 9 South. 443, 13 L. R. A. 38, 24 Am. St. Rep. 309, and the Drummond case, 73 Miss. 819, 20 South. 7, just referred to? This, as set forth at page 770 of 68 Miss., page 444 of 9 South. (13 L. R. A. 38, 24 Am. St. Rep. 309): “The decisions are in direct and palpable conflict upon the liability of a common carrier for failure to transport a passenger under the circumstances named. In New York, Michigan, Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and North Carolina it seems to have been decided that the ticket presented by the passenger is the only evidence of his right to travel upon the train which can be recognized by the conductor, and that if, by reason of the negligence of other servants of the carrier, a wrong ticket has been given to the passenger, or the right ticket has been given to him, but erroneously taken from him, the passenger’s right of action is for the wrong thus committed, and that he may not insist upon his right to travel on the wrong ticket or without it, when it has been taken up, and recover damages for the refusal of the carrier to permit him to do so, and that the carrier may lawfully eject him from its train, using no more force than is necessary for that purpose. On the other hand, it is held in Georgia and Indiana that the passenger is entitled to travel according to his real contract with the carrier, where the mistake in giving the proper ticket or in taking up a proper one held by the passenger is caused by the negligence of the servants of the carrier. Railroad Co. v. Fix, 88 Ind. 381, 45 Am. Rep. 464.”
The only cases relied on by the learned counsel for the appel
We think the jury were well warranted in believing from the testimony in this case that Galvani had full power to stop this train without any higher authority, both from the testimony of the witnesses and from the rule No. 103; that this conductor should have listened to the explanation offered to be made by Reid, and having'heard it, should have stopped the train for the appellee according to the special contract. Instead of doing this, he pitches the ticket back in the lap' of the appellee, tells him, “I have heard that before,” the insultingly sinister implication involved in which is too obvious for comment, and wilfully and wantonly and peremptorily refused to hear any explanation whatever. This is the wilfulness, this is the wantonness — the refusal to hear any explanation whatever — which authorized the court to give the instruction regarding punitive damages.
We think the action of the court below was entirely correct in giving the instruction, and the judgment is affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
delivered the following dissenting opinion.
I do not think the facts warrant the allowance of exemplary damages, and for that reason dissent from the conclusion of the majority. " ‘