66 Fla. 510 | Fla. | 1913
The plaintiffs in error brought an action at law against the defendant in error in the Circuit Court of Columbia County. The declaration contains three counts, the substance of each of which seems to be as follows":
First Count. The defendant railway company on the 6th of August, 1912, owned, operated and managed a line of railway as a common carrier of passengers for hire between Palatka, Putnam County, Florida, and the city of Macon, County of Bibb, State of Georgia; that several days prior to the date aforesaid it advertised at all regular stopping places between Palatka and Macon to the general public, including plaintiff, a reduced rate of fare for an excursion on that date from Palatka to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia; that plaintiff on that date in good faith with the intention of taking passage from palatka to Atlanta and Macon, did enter defendant’s premises at Palatka, prior to the departure of said excursion train, and demanded and requested of defendant’s ticket agent, a ticket and did tender and offer to pay said agent the sum of four dollars and fifty cents, the sum required by defendant for round trip transportation from Palatka, Florida to Macon, Georgia, and return; that said demand and tender were made a reasonable length of time prior io the
In the brief of plaintiff in error, the second count is treated as containing virtually the same cause of action as the first and like damages, im. “compensatory and punitive damages for removing the plaintiff from the train.”
The third count alleges the same facts as the first two, as to the plaintiff’s becoming a passenger on the train of defendant, and adds substantially that while plaintiff was a passenger on the cars of the defendant in Lake City, a station* between Palatka and Macon, that defendant, by means of its servants, agents and employees acting within the scope of their employment did cause the sheriff and his deputies of Columbia County and the chief of police of Lake City, upon the arrival of the train in said city, wantonly, falsely, maliciously and negligently, without just and reasonable cause or legal excuse to arrest the plaintiff for the purpose of injuring the feelings, credit and reputation, causing her mental anguish, pain and humilation, and to bring plaintiff into public scandal and disgrace, and charged her with a certain crime, to-wit, riding upon defendant’s train without a ticket, wantonly
After omitting repetitions, we think the foregoing contains the substance of this count. A demurrer was, filed to this declaration, made applicable to each count, containing sixteen grounds. On a hearing the Circuit Judge sustained the demurrer on four grounds, and the plaintiff declining to amend, a final judgment was entered in favor of the defendant.
The grounds of the demurrer which were sustained raise the question, first, that the plaintiff at the time she was expelled from the train was not a passenger, but a trespasser; second, that the expulsion of the plaintiff from the train was not only excusable, but proper and necessary; third, it is not shown that the Conductor had any authority to issue a round trip or1 excursion ticket from
Section 2880 General Statutes of 1906 makes it illegal for the officers of a common carrier to supply tickets for sale to any person other than the regularly authorized ticket agent as provided for in the previous section, and makes it illegal for any person not possessed of such , authority to sell, barter or transfer, for any consideration whatever, the whole or any part of any ticket, pass or other evidence of transportation. There are certain provisos to this section not applicable to this case. Section 2859 General Statutes of 1906 provides that “if any passenger shall refuse to pay his fare, the Conductor of the train and the servants of the -corporation may pul him and his baggage out of the cars on stopping the cars at any usual stopping place, or near any dwelling, as the conductor shall elect.” It may be assumed for the purposes of this case that when the plaintiff boarded the train at Palatka, as she says by direction of the ticket agent, she had the status of a passenger, although she had no ticket. She immediately, however, demanded , of the Conductor a round trip ticket tendering $4.50, the price of such a ticket, and repeated this demand and tender at every regular stopping place until the train reached Lake City. Under the sections of the statute which -we have quoted the conductor had no authority to sell plaintiff a ticket of any kind, and the ticket agent could not confer such authority. Whether the plaintiff has any remedy for the conduct of the ticket agent, we are not called on in this action to say. His conduct' is not the gravamen ■ of this suit. In the first two counts of the declaration, it is asserted in the brief of plaintiffs in error, plaintiffs claim “compensatory and punitive damages for removing the plaintiff from said train.” The status of the plaintiff
The third count of the declaration after alleging all “the material allegations1 as are set forth and contained in the first two counts,” then alleges in substance that on the 6th of August, 1912, while the plaintiff was a passenger on defendant’s train, that said defendant by its servants and agents, in the City of Lake City, Florida, wantonly, maliciously and without cause or excuse, and act
We think that the demurrer to this count of the declaration, as well as to1 the others was properly sustained.
The judgment of the Circuit Court is affirmed.