70 So. 12 | Ala. Ct. App. | 1915
Count 2 of the complaint here, which the reporter will set out, fails to show any consideration moving either from the sendee or from the sender, or any other person, to the defendant telegraph company for its promise or undertaking, if any, to transmit the alleged message; hence the count is bad, whether it be treated as ex contractu or ex delicto.—Western Union Tel. Co. v. Krichbaum, 132 Ala. 535, 31 South. 607; Newton, et al. v. Brook, supra; Birmingham Ry., L. & P. Co. v. Abbott, supra.
And, if treated as a count ex contractu, it is further bad in that it fails to show that the sendee was a party to the contract of transmission, or that the message was sent for his sole benefit.— Western Union Tel. Co. v. Adams, supra; McGehee v. Western
This amendment, when construed most strongly against the pleader, hardly cures the defects pointed out, in that it fails to show that the 40 cents alleged to have been paid defendant by plaintiff for the transmission of the message was paid or promised at the time defendant promised or undertook the transmission and delivery of the message, and hence fails to show a binding obligation on the part of defendant to transmit and deliver; but, for aught to the contrary appearing from the allegations, the defendant’s promise or undertaking was entirely gratuitous or voluntary. If so, no right of action, either ex contráctil or ex delicto, could be grounded upon its breach, although the plaintiff, after the message was transmitted and delivered, did pay the defendant 40 cents therefor; for, unless it was, either expressly or impliedly, agreed or understood at the time that defendant promised to transmit the message that the plaintiff, or the sendee, was to pay the 40 cents, or other lawful charges therefor, the subsequent payment of them by plaintiff would furnish no consideration in law for defendant’s previous promise, but would be merely a gratuitous payment — a payment which plaintiff was not bound to make — for a past service, which was performed by defendant without the payment or promise of the payment of' any consideration in return therefor. The allegations should show a contract, that is, that the plaintiff promised or undertook the transmission and delivery of the telegram for a reward, which might be either paid or promised, at the time of defendant’s promise or undertaking, and which, so far as the matter of proof' is concerned, would be implied from the fact of the acceptance by-defendant company of the message for transmission, in the absence of evidence showing that it was to be transmitted and delivered gratuitously.
Whether the defendant waived its right to review the action of the court in overruling the demurrer by a failure to refile it after the mentioned amendment of the count, as is insisted by
Whether count 2 is ex delicto or ex contractu (a much mooted question), it is also unnecessary to decide, for when on another trial, it is so amended, as it probably will be, as to show a contract for the transmission of the message, and that plaintiff was a party to it through the sender as his agent, the count will state a good cause of action. Showing, as in such case it will, that plaintiff is a party to the contract, it will not be necessary to allege, as is insisted by defendant in another ground of its demurrer, that the message was sent solely for plaintiff’s benefit, whether the count be regarded as assumpsit for a breach by defendant of the contract, or as in case for a breach of duty growing out of the obligation imposed by the contract.
The defendant requested, which was refused, a charge in writing to the effect that if the jury believed the evidence in the case they could not assess any damages in favor of the plaintiff for or on account of any mental anguish alleged to have been suffered by the plaintiff; and the defendant insists that it was entitled to such charge for several reasons, to-wit: First, because the complaint failed, as it did, to allege that the plaintiff would have attended the funeral of his grandmother, whose death was ■announced in the delayed telegram, had the telegram been promptly transmitted and delivered on January 3d, which it was alleged would have been in time for him to have done so; second, because there was no evidence, it is contended, tending to show, or from which the jury would be authorized to infer, that, even if the defendant had promptly transmitted the message and had attempted a prompt delivery thereof on January 3d, the plaintiff would have been available for the delivery of it to him on that day; third, because the fact in evidence, which was undisputed, to the effect that the plaintiff had, some 24 hours prior to the time the message in question, announcing the death of his grandmother, was received for transmission, and nearly three days before her funeral took place, sent a telegram to his mother from relatives at the bedside of his grandmother, stating that she, his grandmother, was then dying, and telling his mother to come on
We are of opinion that these allegations are not sufficient to show that plaintiff was prevented by reason of and as a proximate consequence of defendant’s negligence’from attending said funeral, the condition that is essential to the recovery of damages for mental anguish. The allegations show that plaintiff could have, but do not show that he would have, attended said funeral had said telegram been promptly transmitted and delivered, and hence fail to show that defendant’s negligence- prevented plaintiff from attending said funeral, and consequently fail to show any right to recover the damages claimed for mental anguish.
In the case of Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Smith (Tex. Civ. App.) 133 S. W. 1062, decided by the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, the court, speaking on the proposition now before us, said: “In cases like the present [a suit for mental anguish], it is necessary to prove, not only that the plaintiff could but also that he would, have immediately responded to the telegram, if the same had been, promptly delivered, in time to have been present before the death or burial, as the case might be, in order to recover. If it is necessary to make this proof, we think it likewise necessary to make the allegation” —citing in support Telephone Co. v. Brown, 104 Tenn. 56, 55 S. W. 155, and W. U. Tel. Co. v. Bell, 42 Tex. Civ. App. 462, 92 S. W. 1036.
While neither of our own courts has dealt with this identical proposition of pleading, they have stated principles which are •applicable and which sustain the holding of the Texas court; for instance, in the case of A. G. S. R. R. C. v. Cardwell, 171 Ala. 274, 55 South. 185, it is said by our Supreme Court: “Proof without allegation is as impotent as is allegation without proof. As a rule, a plaintiff is neither required nor authorized to prove that which is not alleged, nor is the defendant required * * * to disprove matters not alleged or not in issue. It is for these reasons that the issues should be certain, and the pleadings should be the sole expositors of the issues, so that the evidence may be confined to them/’
We are therefore of opinion that the defendant properly raised the point, and that the court erred in not giving the mentioned charge requested by defendant, and this for the reasons as stated in defendant’s first contention hereinbefore set forth.-
In support of the contention the defendant’s counsel cite us tó a number of authorities, to-wit: 2 Joyce on Electric Law (2d Ed.), § 743A; W. U. Tel. Co. v. Gulledge, 84 Ark. 501, 106 S. W. 957; W. U. Tel. Co. v. Baker, 140 Fed. 315, 73 C. C. A. 87; Mullinax v. W. U. Tel. Co., 156 N. C. 541, 72 S. E. 583; and W. U. Tel. Co. v. Leland, 156 Ala. 335, 47 South. 62. We quote as follows from the text of the first of these authorities, to-wit: “Not only must the claimed damage or loss have been sustained, but it must have been occasioned by reason of the claimed negligent acts of the telegraph company, or a recovery will not be upheld, and recovery will be precluded when the alleged error is not the proximate cause of plaintiff’s loss, as where he has obtained information equally as valuable from other sources than the undelivered telegram.”
Of the above cited cases sustaining this doctrine, which we approve, the two nearest in point and most strenuously urged are W. U. Tel. Co. v. Gulledge and W. U. Tel. Co. v. Baker; but we are of opinion that the facts of the case at bar are such that the principle laid down in the text quoted is not applicable, as will be demonstrated by comparing and contrasting the facts of the present case with the state of facts dealt with in the two cases last mentioned, where the doctrine of the text was applied, and which cases, as said, are the strongest cases cited by appellant in support of its position. In the first of these (the Gulledge
In the second of the last cases mentioned (the Baker Case) , decided by.tbe United States District Court, the complaint alleged that delay by defendant in the delivery of a telegram, informing plaintiff of her father’s death prevented her from attending his funeral. It appeared, however, that before the receipt of the delayed telegram, plaintiff was reliably informed by others that her father had died that morning, August 13th, the day the delayed telegram was sent, and that if she had acted on this information, she could have reached Hot Springs, where he was, from Little Rock, where she was, in ample time for the funeral. The court, in dealing with this phase of the case and speaking through Judge Sanborn, among other things, said: “The anguish of suffering for which the plaintiff sought to recover damages under the statute was that which resulted to her from her absence from the funeral of her father. There are at least three facts which are essential to her cause of action: (1) That the company was guilty of negligence in the delivery of the message; (2) that the delay of the company in delivering the message caused the plaintiff’s absence from the funeral of her father; (3) that her absence inflicted anguish or suffering upon her. Conceding that there was evidence of the first and third facts,
In the case at bar, it appears that the plaintiff lives in Birmingham, Ala.; where also resides his mother in an ddjoining house, while his grandmother (the mother of his mother), whose death the delayed telegram announced; resided and was at the time of her death at Social Circle in the state of Georgia. On January 2, 1913, plaintiff’s mother received at Birmingham the following telegram from a relative at Social Circle, Ga., to-wit: “Your mother is dying. r Come on first train.” In pursuance of this telegram, plaintiff’s mother left that day on the first train
The plaintiff’s evidence tends to show that if this message had been transmitted and delivered with reasonable diligence, the plaintiff would have received it at such an hour on January 3d that he could have caught a train out of Birmingham for Social Circle on that day, in ample time to have reached the latter place for the funeral, which took place on the afternoon of January 4th, and that he would have done so, but that by reason of the negligence of defendant the telegram was not delivered until 3 or 4 o’clock on the afternoon of January 4th, when it was entirely too late for plaintiff by any means to reach Social Circle in time for the funeral.
It appears that the plaintiff lived with his grandmother from childhood until he was 21 years old, when he removed to Birmingham, where he has been living ever since (about 7 years), engaged in running a little family grocery store, living with his
Under these facts and circumstances, different as they are from the facts dealt with in the cases we have discussed, we are unwilling to say, as a matter of law, what the court in effect said in those cases, and that is that plaintiff was not prevented by defendant’s negligence from attending his grandmother’s funeral, but was prevented by his own indisposition. In this case, whether it was the one or the other (there being, as seen, facts and circumstances from which either might be inferred) was a question for the jury. However, we may say that, even though the jury reach the conclusion that plaintiff was prevented by defendant’s negligence and not his own indisposition from attending his grandmother’s funeral, they might, in ascertaining whether on that account he suffered mental anguish, and, if so, in ascertaining the extent of it, weigh the fact that plaintiff did not, when informed of the dying condition of his grandmother through the mentioned telegram to his mother, go immediately .to her bedside, which if he had done he would have been sure and certain of being there m time for the funeral, but chose, for reasons .given by him, as before stated, to take the risk of waiting to go until he had received information of her actual death, knowing, as all do, the possibilities of delay in the transmission and delivery of such information, and that a slight delay might preclude him from making connections and reaching Social Circle in time for the funeral. Plaintiff’s willingness to let an engagement with Kellogg, which for aught to the contrary appearing could have been easily and satisfactorily changed by wire to
Reversed and remanded.