Southern Ry. Co. v. Pruett
Southern Ry. Co. v. Pruett
Opinion of the Court
The case made is well stated in Ibrieif by counsel for appellant. The reporter will set out the appropriate matter from the brief to constitute a statement of the facts.
“Whore, however’, he is misled by the acts or statements of the company or its agents into taking a train which does not stop at his destination, he is not without remedy. He cannot, indeed, insist that the conductor shall violate his instructions and stop the train at the place in question, nor can he insist upon remaining on the train after learning that it will not stop. His remedy in such a case is to leave the train and seek transportation by some other means, and then to recover of the company damages for’the injury he has sustained by its breach of contract. He has not the right, however, though erroneous notions in this regard seem very generally to prevail, to aggravate his injury by refusing to leave and making the application of force necessary for his removal. He is now wrongfully upon the train, and whatever force is reasonably necessary and proper to eject him he himself invites, and he cannot recover damages for an injury thereby sustained, though *677 he is still entitled to protection against unnecessary- and wanton violence.” Carriers, vol. 2 (3d Ed.) pp. 1228, 1229, § 1060.
These rules have been reaffirmed by this court in the cases of Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Maxwell, 190 Ala. 47, 66 South. 600; McGhee v. Reynolds, 117 Ala. 413, 23 South. 68; Alabama Great Southern Railroad Co. v. Carmichael, 90 Ala. 19, 8 South. 87, 9 L. R. A. 388; Manning v. Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., 95 Ala. 392, 11 South. 8, 16 L. R. A. 55, 36 Am. St. Rep. 225; Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Cornelius, 6 Ala. App. 386, 60 South. 740. This court, in Carmichael’s Case, supra (90 Ala. 24, 8 South. 89 [9 L. R. A. 388]), speaking through Stone, C. J., said:
“Railroads have the undoubted power to prescribe rules for the running of their trains. They not only have the power, but their highest duty demands that they exercise it. On this depend the safety of passengers, the safety of trains, and the preservation of vast property interests. The immense power and capacity of railroads for evil, as well as for good, render it of supreme importance that regulations be observed, and that trains run strictly on schedule time, and according to schedule requirements. The horrible railroad collisions and disasters, which fill the news columns, are a tremendous warning against violation or disregard of orders by employes having charge of trains. Conductors of railroad trains are but agents, authorized, and only authorized, to run their trains according to prescribed rules; and if it were necessary to the decision of this case, there are many decisions which hold that persons dealing with them are hound to take notice, or inquire and inform themselves, of the extent of their powers. Such is the general rule, when one deals with an agent, not of the class called general agents. Cummins v. Beaumont, 68 Ala. 204; Herring v. Skaggs, 62 Ala. 180 [34 Am. Rep. 4].”
“If the plaintiff got on the wrong train by her own mistake, and the mistake was not known to the employés in charge of- the train until after the train 'had left Anniston, the plaintiff is not entitled to recover.”
This wás certainly as favorable a charge on this phase o-f the case as defendant had a right to have, and none refused to defendant, on this phase, was more favorable to defendant than the one given. ■ If the plaintiff’s evidence on this feature of the case was true •—and the jury evidently found that it was— plaintiff was not at fault in boarding the train at the time and on the occasion in question.
The leading case in this country on the subject of passengers following the advice or directions of agents of the carrier is that of S. & N. A. R. R. Co. v. Huffman, 76 Ala. 492, 52 Am. Rep. 349. It has been often followed by tbis court and others. It reviewed many, if not all, of the authorities on the subject up to that date. The rule is well stated in the third headnote in the report of that case:
“Cases cited, in which ‘it was ruled that the railroad corporation was liable for the erroneous advice and direction given by its agents in charge’ and the court adds, ‘We think the rule a good one, and will adopt it.’ ”
“It is the duty of one injured by the act of another to use all reasonable and convenient care to diminish the amount of his own pecuniary damage.” Georgia Pac. R. Co. v. Fullerton, 79 Ala. 302; 1 Sedgw. on Damages, 56; Memphis & C. R. Co. v. Hembree, 84 Ala. 186, 4 South. 392; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Hine, 121 Ala. 239, 25 South. 857; Werten v. Koosa, 169 Ala. 264, 53 South. 98.
The rule applicable to this phase of the case is well stated by Mr. Hutchinson in his work on Carriers (3d Ed.) vol. 3, pp. 1734, 1735, § 1431, where many cases are cited, as follows:
“Where the passenger has sustained an injury at the hands of the carrier, it is his duty to endeavor to make his damage as light as possible; •and for those consequences of the carrier’s wrongful act which the passenger in the exercise of reasonable care and prudence could have avoided, the carrier will not be liable. This rule was applied where a passenger, who had been injured, continued bis journey without first securing the aid of a competent physician or surgeon in consequence of which his injury was aggravated; where a passenger, being denied passage in a chair car, left the train altogether and sought damages for the delay when he might have gone on in another car; where a passenger iñ a sleeping car refused to continue l}is journey in a day coach, the sleeping car having been turned back by the carrier’s orders just before the passenger’s destination was reached; where a passenger, after having been wrongfully ejected, refused to accept the conductor’s invitation to resume his journey, and then claimed damages for the delay; where a woman carried pash her station refused assistance in getting back and walked a longer distance than was necessary, and then sought damages for the trouble and inconvenience so incurred; where a woman who had likewise been carried beyond her destination walked back on a very cold night and thereby suffered injury, when shelter and accommodation could have been had until morning ; where a passenger who was refused transportation made no effort to secure other means to proceed on his journey, but needlessly remained at an intermediate station, and then sought to recover damages for the delay,” etc.
The same rules have been announced by this court in passenger cases involving the question of mitigation of damages. In the case of Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Hine, 121 Ala. 234, 25 South. 857, it is said:
“While by refusing such offer the plaintiff did not forfeit his right of action for the ejection he could not be allowed to aggravate his injury or to enhance his damages by a voluntary abandonment of the trip. On the contrary, it was his legal duty to use ordinary care to make his damage no greater than was necessary and to adopt reasonable and convenient means to that end, and the application of that rule would certainly have required of plaintiff his return to the train if the accomplishment of the journey was important. Ga. Pac. R. Co. v. Fullerton, 79 Ala. 398; 5 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, 693; Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Bluhm, 109 Ill. 20, 50 Am. Rep. 601; Sedg. on Dam. (7th Ed.) 56.”
This rule must he applied here. Plaintiff could not be allowed to enhance her damages by her refusal of all reasonable offers, made by the defendant, to the end of rectifying its wrong and making her injury and inconvenience as small as possible. It is undisputed that defendant’s agent gave her money to pay for her lodging at a hotel; that she accepted the money, deciding so to use it, but finally chose voluntarily to remain , all night in the depot. This inconvenience, and its consequent injuries and damages, if any there were, were certainly self-inflicted. They were not the proximate result of the defendant’s wrongs, and as for them the defendant is not liable. For this error the case must he reversed. The other questions may not arise on another trial.-
Reversed and remanded.
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