delivered the opinion of the court.
This was an action to recover damages from a railway company for the partial loss of a shipment of vinegar carried over the comрany’s line from one point to another in the State of Mississippi. The case originated in á justice’s court and was.taken on appeal to the Circuit Cоurt of Hinds County, where the plaintiff recovered a judgment for actual damages and $25.00 as a statutory penalty. That being thé' highest court in the State to which the cаse could be carried, it was then brought here. The position of the.railway company, unsuccessfully taken in the state court and now renewed, is that the Mississiрpi statute providing for .the penalty is repugnant to the due ,- process of law and equal protection, clauses of the Fourteenth .Amendment to thе Constitution of the United' States. The statute redds:
“Railroads, corporations and individuals engaged as common carriers in this state are required to settle, аll claims for lost or' damaged freight which has been lost or damaged between two given points on the same line or system, within sixty days from the filing'of written notice of the loss or damage with the agent at the point of destination; and where freight is handled by two or more roads or systems of roads, and is-lost or damaged, claims, therefor shall be settled within ninety days from the filing of written notice theréof with the agent by consignee at the point of destination. A common carrier failing to settle, such claims as herein required'shall be liable tó the- consigneé for twenty-dive dollars damages in each case, in addition to actual damages, all of which. may berecovered.in the same suit provided that this section, shall only apply when the amount claimed , is two hundred dollars or less.” Laws 1908, c. 196,-p.-205.
The facts showing the application made of the statute *219 are these.: The plaintiff gave notice of its claim in the manner prescribed,. placing its damages at $4.76, and, upon the railway company's failure to -settle within sixty days, suеd to recover that sum and the statutory penalty. Upon the trial the damagеs were assessed at the sum stated iii the notice, and judgment was given therefor, with thе penalty. Thus, the claim presented in advance of the suit, and which the railway company failed to settle within the time allotted, was fully sustained.
As appliеd to such a case, we think the statute is not repugnant to either the due process of law or the equal protection clause of the Constitution, but, оn the contrary, merely provides a reasonable incentive for the prompt settlement, without suit, of just demands of a class admitting of special legislative treatment. See
Seaboard Air Line Railway
v.
Seegers,
Although seemingly conceding thus much, counsel for. the railway company urge that, the statute is not confined to cases like the prеsent, but equally penalizes the failure to accede to an excеssive or extravagant claim; in other words, that it contemplates the assеssment of the penalty in every case where the claim presented is nоt settled within the time ■ allotted, regardless of whether, or how much, the recovery falls short of the amount claimed. But it is not open to the railway company to complain on that score. It has not been penalized for failing tо accede to an excessive or extravagant claim, bút for failing to make reasonably prompt settlement of a claim which upon due inquiry has been pronounced just in every-respect. Of course, the argument to sustain the contention is that, if the statute embraces cases such as are "suрposed, it is void as to them, and, if so void, is void
in tota.
But this court must deal with the case in hand аnd not with imaginary ones. It suffices, therefore, to
*220
hold that, as applied to сases like the present, the statute is valid. How the state court may apрly it to othér cases, whether its general words may be treated as more or less restrained, and how far parts of it may be sustained if others fail are matters upon which we need not speculate now.
Hatch
v.
Reardon,
The judgment is accordingly
Affirmed.