Louisville N. R. Co. v. Clark
Louisville N. R. Co. v. Clark
Opinion of the Court
The case was tried on counts 2, 3, and 4 against defendants Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, a corporation, Southern Railway Company, a corporation, and Walker D. ■ Plines, as Director General of Railroads. The first, fifth, and sixth counts were eliminated by charges, as was also the Southern Railway Company as a party defendant.
. Defendants made motion to strike parts of the several counts of the complaint; and though the ruling thereon is assigned as er■ror, it is not shown by the bill of exceptions or the judgment entry that action of the court was invoked on this motion.
The fourth count charges:
That defendants, as common carriers operating passenger trains for hire, on January 28, 1918, jointly maintained a union depot at Decatur, Ala., for use of their passengers, a ticket office, and a waiting room in which passengers are required to go in order to reach the ticket window of the office whore tickets are sold for trains operated by said defendants; that they maintained bulletin boards showing the schedule time of arrival and departure of all passenger trains over their roads and upon which they posted the time of arrival of trains when late, and on said date defendants kept, “in a conspicuous place on the wall in said waiting room, a clock which was kept running, and was kept for the use of their passengers, that said passengers might- keep themselves informed as to the correct time, and in order that said passengers might be informed as to when their trains would arrive and depart from said station.”
It is further averred:
That about 2 o’clock a. m. on the morning of said date plaintiff and her son-in-law, R. D. White, reached said station over a train of the Southern Railway from Little Rock, Ark.; that they wore accompanying the corpse of plaintiff’s son, who had died, and she was returning to her homo, carrying said corpse for burial; that “plaintiff and said corpse were being carried on tickets furnished by government authorities at Gamp Pike, Little Rock, Ark., from that point by Memphis, Tenn., over the Southern Railway Company to Decatur, Ala., and from Decatur to Hartsells, Ala., over the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, and plaintiff’s son-in-law, R. L. White, was riding on a ticket purchased by him from Little Rock, Ark., to Decatur, Ala.; that, when plaintiff reached Decatur, Ala., the said R. L. White purchased his ticket from Decatur to Hartsells, and he and plaintiff then informed said agent that plaintiff had a ticket for herself and for a corpse for Hartsells, and inquired of the ticket agent from whom said ticket was purchased as to the time when the first train would leave Decatur upon which plaintiff and said corpse could go to Hartsells, and said agent, whose name is unknown to plaintiff, informed plaintiff that the train known as the morning accommodation train from Decatur, Ala., to Birmingham, Ala., upon which she should ride, and upon which said corpse would be carried, would leave defendants’ depot at Decatur at 6:30 a. m. of said date, to wit, January 28, 1918; that plaintiff continued to wait in the waiting room at said station or depot until 6:25 o’clock a. m., when plaintiff and her‘said son-in-law again inquired of said agent about said train, and whether or not it was on time; that said agent then and there told plaintiff that said train had left, and was then on its way to Hartsells, and that said corpse was on said train.”
It is farther averred:
That plaintiff was left in Decatur, and had no way or means of getting to Hartsells until the *155 next train, about 3:30 o’clock p. m., reaching Hartsells about 4 o’clock p. m.: that said corpse reached Hartsells about 7 o’clock a. m., without any one accompanying it; that no arrangements had been made for any one to meet said train and take said corpse; that said corpse was unloaded on the trucks and permitted to remain thereon at the depot until late in the afternoon; that on account of plaintiff’s missing said train at Decatur she did not leave Hartsells until about 4 o’clock p. m., “whereas, if she had not missed said train, she would have loft with said corpse about 9 o’clock a. m.; that plaintiff’s home was about 25 miles in the country east from Hartsells; that the weather was very cold and the roads very muddy; that soon after leaving Hartsells upon said journey home it began to rain, and continued to rain and sleet on plaintiff throughout the entire journey; that plaintiff did not reach home until about 2 o’clock a. m. on January 29, 1918; that said corpse did not reach home until about 4 o’clock a. m. on January 29, 1918.”
It is further averred:
“That in going from Hartsells to her home, plaintiff was in the cold, rain, and sleet, traveling over muddy, rough roads, in the darkness, for 10 hours; that when she reached home she was almost frozen, and from said exposure she contracted grippe, and was confined to her room for months because thereof; that during all of the time while waiting at Decatur, and while on the road home, plaintiff knew that the corpse of hgr said son was being moved about unaccompanied, and was being hauled over muddy roads in the darkness of the night, so that plaintiff could not accompany the same, as was her desire; that because of the foregoing plaintiff suffered great mental and physical pain and anguish, was made sick and sore, and rendered unable to work.”
It is further averred;
That when plaintiff was informed “by said agent that said train would leave the station at Decatur, Ala., at 0:39 a. m., she consulted said clock kept and maintained by the defendants in said waiting room, and continually w'atched said clock for the purpose of determining when she should take said train; that when said clock showed the hour to be 6:25 a. m. plaintiff again asked the agent about said train, and said agent then informed plaintiff that said train had gone and was on its way to Hartsells; * * * that defendants negligently kept and maintained said clock, which erroneously indicated the time when said train would leave said station, and as a proximate consequence of said negligence plaintiff missed said train, and suffered said injuries.”
“Among other things which the appellant undertook to do in the operation of its station was to direct passengers to their proper trains.”
And the men through whom the appellant chose to perform the service of directing passengers to their proper trains directed plaintiff, Londoner, to the passageway wherein he received liis injury; defendant insisting that the person so directing plaintiff was not its agent, to which the court replied:
“It availed itself and had the benefit of the service of these men, made them the agents or means for the performance of that particular part of its work which it had undertaken in the operation of its station, and it cannot now be permitted to say that Londoner had no right, so far as it was concerned, to follow the directions of .the agency which it adopted and used as, the means through which it gave directions.”
See, also, many authorities collected in L. R. A. 1916D, 788 et seq.
“And plaintiff avers that the agent of the defendants in charge of said accommodation train scheduled to leave their station at Decatur, Ala., at 6:30' o’clock a. m. on the morning of January 28, 1918, left said station with said train at 6:20 o’clock a. m. on said date, ten minutes before it was scheduled to leave, and as a proximate consequence thereof plaintiff missed said train, and was thereby caused to suffer the injuries complained of.”
The charge, refused to defendants, that plaintiff was not entitled to recover damages on account of the corpse not reaching home until about 2 o’clock on the morning of January '29, 1918, was fully covered by the oral charge and by the written charge given for defendants that, since the action grew out of an interstate contract, damages for mental pain and anguish were not recoverable. Such was the effect of defendant’s given charges C, 44 and 45, and of the oral charge to the effect that plaintiff was not “entitled to recover what the law terms damages for mental suffering.”
“The logical rule in this connection, the rule of common sense and human experience as well, is that a person guilty. of negligence should be held responsible for all the consequences which a prudent and experienced man, fully acquainted with all the circumstances which in fact existed, whether they could have *157 been ascertained by reasonable diligence or not, would, at the time of the negligent act, have thought reasonably possible to follow, if they had occurred to his mind. 1 Shear. & Red. Negligence, § 29.”
The announcement of proximate cause and responsibility for damages resulting therefrom in the Armstrong Case has been followed. L. & N. v. Quick, 125 Ala. 553, 563, 28 South. 14; A. G. S. v. Arnold, 80 Ala. 600, 2 South. 337; K. C., M. & B. v. Foster, 134 Ala. 244, 254, 32 South. 773, 92 Am. St. Rep. 25; W. Ry. of Ala. v. Mutch, 97 Ala. 194, 11 South. 894, 21 L. R. A. 316, 38 Am. St. Rep. 179; Cent. of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Barnitz, 198 Ala. 156, 73 South. 471.
■ The foregoing is decisive of the many questions on the introduction of the evidence, and a further detailed discussion of the samé is unnecessary.
Charge 3, requested by defendants, that plaintiff would not be entitled to recover damages in this case by reason of the failure of any one to accompany the corpse of her son to Hartsells, was fairly and fully covered by the instructions of the court to the effect that damages may not be awarded for mental anguish.
The rule as to damages in cases where passengers were carried beyond their destination was recently discussed by this court in Cent. of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Barnitz, supra. And it is declared that, where the special circumstances are known to the carrier, who has “actual notice of the conditions” and of the “probable consequences,” it is concerned about the passenger’s arrangements for the “prosecution of his journey.” Waldrop v. N., C. & St. L. Ry., 183 Ala. 226, 62 South. 769. See, also, Georgia Life Ins. Co. v. Easter, 189 Ala. 472, 66 South. 514, L. R. A. 1915C, 456; Sou. Iron & Equip. Co. v. Holmes Lbr. Co., 164 Ala. 517, 526, 51 South. 531; Sou. Ry. Co. v. Coleman, 153 Ala. 266, 44 South. 837.
Reversed and remanded.
Ante, p. 115.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- LOUISVILLE & N. R. CO. Et Al. v. CLARK
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- 16 cases
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- Published