84 S.E. 45 | N.C. | 1915
Lead Opinion
On 13 February, 1913, tbe plaintiff filed in the defendant’s office at J-ohnson City, Tenn., a message addressed to his wife, “Bakersville, N. C., via Toecane,” reading as follows: “Am coming home today; have conveyance at station.”
Exceptions 1 and 15 are that the plaintiff was allowed to testify that at 12 o’clock noon, about an hour after he had filed the message, he again went to the defendant’s office in Johnson Oity and asked the official in charge if the message had been delivered, stating that he was very sick and anxious to have it delivered promptly. • He was told in reply that it had been delivered all right. As the defendant’s evidence is that the message did not reach Toecane till 2:30 p. m., this evidence was compe
It is 2x/% miles from Toecane to Bakersville, and there is a telephone line over which the defendant should have transmitted this message to Bakersville. Indeed, according to the evidence, it could have been sent over, with proper diligence, by the mail or other means long before the plaintiff arrived at 9 :30 p. m.
The defendant undertook to transmit this message over its telegraph line from Johnson City to Toecane, which was an interstate transaction. There was no damage alleged in this respect, for though the message was not received at Toecane till 2:30 p. m., this was seven hours before the plaintiff’s arrival at that point on the 9 :30 p. m. train. The defendant further undertook to transmit the message, on behalf of the plaintiff, over the telephone line from Toecane to Bakersville. This was purely an intrastate transaction, and as to that default there was evidence of negligence, for the natural consequences of which the defendant is liable. It is not liable because the plaintiff had measles, nor for the weather, nor for the plaintiff’s ill-advised conduct under such circumstances in walking out that night from Toecane to Bakersville, when the evidence shows that he could have secured lodging in Toecane, or might have phoned out to Bakersville for a conveyance after his arrival at Toecane.
In view of the errors assigned in these respects there must be a new trial. It is proper to say, however, that we do not sustain the objection to the maintenance of the action here, because the telegram originated in another State. This has been discussed and fully settled in Penn v. Tel. Co., 159 N. C., and cases cited by Hoke, J., at pp. 309, 310, and cases cited in the concurring opinion at page 315.
Nor do we concur in the objection that the plaintiff cannot recover more than $50 because of the stipulation to that effect as to unrepeated messages on the back of the message. This Court has always held such stipulation invalid. Brown v. Tel. Co., 111 N. C., 187, citing numerous eases and the text-books; Sherrill v. Tel. Co., 116 N. C., 655; Efird v. Tel. Co., 132 N. C., 271. Nor even if this were an interstate message— as the defendant contends — and the default was not solely at Toecanein this State, after the message was received there, would it affect this ruling. In Tel. Co. v. Milling Co., 218 U. S., 406, it is held that where the State court held that telegraph companies cannot thus limit their liability for negligent failure to deliver a telegram addressed to a person in another State, this is not an interference with interstate commerce, and will be sustained. That case will be found with full annotations,
But for the reasons given there was, in other respects,
Error.
Concurrence Opinion
concur in the result, that there should be a new trial, but are of the opinion that in no view of the evidence, as presented in the record, can plaintiff recover damages beyond the amount paid for the service or the cost of the message, because the transaction was interstate, and the contract between the parties required a continuous transmission of the message from Johnson City, Tennessee, to Bakersville, for which’ the plaintiff paid the entire toll when the message was delivered by him to the operator at the former place. The record clearly shows that the defendant did not agree to transmit the message to Toecane, N. C., and, for plaintiff’s accommodation, or as his agent, to forward it over the telephone line to Bakersville, but to send it through to Bakersville for one charge, which was prepaid. Being, therefore, an interstate message (W. U. T. Co. v. Pendleton, 122 U. S., 347; Lance v. Brown, 234 U. S., 542), the highest Federal court, by whose decisions upon the question we are bound, has held, contrary to our ruling, that the stipulation as to repeating the message, and as to the amount of damages to be recovered, if not repeated, is a valid one. Since the passage of the act of Congress of 18 June, 1910 (1 Fed. Statutes Anno., Suppl. of 1912, p. 112), telegraph companies are to be considered as common carriers within the meaning and provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act. The power of Congress over such interstate commerce is exclusive, as it has occupied the field, and the exercise of such power cannot be affected or impaired, or in any degree changed or modified, by State regulation. Mich. C. R. Co. v. Vreeland, 227 U. S., 59; Erie R. Co. v. New York, 233 U. S., 671. In the last, case the Court said: “When Congress acts in such way as to manifest its purpose to exercise its constitutional authority, the regulating power of the State ceases to exist.” But coming down to the very question herein presented, it has been held, in Primrose v. W. U. Tel. Co., 154 U. S., 1, that a regulation of a telegraph company requiring the sender of a message to have it repeated and to pay an additional amount therefor, in order to hold the company liable for mistakes or delays in transmitting or delivering, or for not delivering a message, is a reasonable one, and further, that the terms printed on the back of the message, so far as otherwise not inconsistent with law, form part of the contract between the sender and the company, under which the message is transmitted, citing numerous cases from the English and American courts, and stating that “the great pre
Under the cases last cited, if plaintiff can recover more than the cost of the message, his recovery could not exceed the stipulated maximum amount of $50 as liquidated damages.
The ease of W. U. Tel. Co. v. Brown, 234 U. S., 542, cited in the opinion of the Court, is not in point, the case involving the right of one State to control the law of another State, as to a transaction taking place partly in both, the Court specifically holding that the statute of South Carolina, as to the recovery for mental anguish in telegraph cases, could not operate in the District of Columbia; but it did give strong intimation that the statute was an unwarranted interference with interstate commerce.
Since the passage by Congress of the act of 1910, above mentioned, telegraph companies are subject to the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, and whatever the law may have been before that time, the case is now governed by the principles as stated in Adams Express Co. v. Croninger and other like cases supra.
Lead Opinion
WALKER and BROWN, JJ., concurring in result. On 13 February, 1913, the plaintiff filed in the defendant's office at Johnson City, Tenn., a message addressed to his wife, "Bakersville, N.C.via Toecane," reading as follows: "Am coming home today; have conveyance at station."
Exceptions 1 and 15 are that the plaintiff was allowed to testify that at 12 o'clock noon, about an hour after he had filed the message, he again went to the defendant's office in Johnson City and asked the official in charge if the message had been delivered, stating that he was very sick and anxious to have it delivered promptly. He was told in reply that it had been delivered all right. As the defendant's evidence is that the message did not reach Toecane till 2:30 p.m., this evidence was (37) competent to show that the defendant had notice of the importance of promptness before the message in fact was sent. The plaintiff was not estopped by the incorrect reply that the message had already been delivered. It would not have taken the train two and a half hours to go from Johnson City to Toecane. The telegraph ought to be speedier.
It is 2 1/2 miles from Toecane to Bakersville, and there is a telephone line over which the defendant should have transmitted this message to *95 Bakersville. Indeed, according to the evidence, it could have been sent over, with proper diligence, by the mail or other means long before the plaintiff arrived at 9:30 p.m.
The defendant undertook to transmit this message over its telegraph line from Johnson City to Toecane, which was an interstate transaction. There was no damage alleged in this respect, for though the message was not received at Toecane till 2:30 p.m., this was seven hours before the plaintiff's arrival at that point on the 9:30 p.m. train. The defendant further undertook to transmit the message, on behalf of the plaintiff, over the telephone line from Toecane to Bakersville. This was purely an intrastate transaction, and as to that default there was evidence of negligence, for the natural consequences of which the defendant is liable. It is not liable because the plaintiff had measles, nor for the weather, nor for the plaintiff's ill-advised conduct under such circumstances in walking out that night from Toecane to Bakersville, when the evidence shows that he could have secured lodging in Toecane, or might have phoned out to Bakersville for a conveyance after his arrival at Toecane.
In view of the errors assigned in these respects there must be a new trial. It is proper to say, however, that we do not sustain the objection to the maintenance of the action here, because the telegram originated in another State. This has been discussed and fully settled in Penn v. Tel.Co., 159 N.C. and cases cited by Hoke, J., at pp. 309, 310, and cases cited in the concurring opinion at page 315.
Nor do we concur in the objection that the plaintiff cannot recover more than $50 because of the stipulation to that effect as to unrepeated messages on the back of the message. This Court has always held such stipulation invalid. Brown v. Tel. Co.,
But for the reasons given there was, in other respects,
Error. *96