Drew v. Central Pacific Railroad

California Supreme Court
Drew v. Central Pacific Railroad, 51 Cal. 425 (Cal. 1876)
1876 Cal. LEXIS 72

Drew v. Central Pacific Railroad

Opinion of the Court

By the Court:

The plaintiff had no right to stop over ” at Sacramento after the defendant had commenced the performance of the contract. He had no such right under the terms of the ticket which he purchased at Omaha in the first instance, and which, on its face, contained nothing on the subject. (Dietrich v. Penn. R. R. Co., 71 Penn. St. 482, and cases there cited; McClure v. P. W. & B. R. R. Co., 34 Md. 532; Churchill v. C. & A. R. R. Co., 3 Am. R. W. R. 433.) The conductor’s check, which the plaintiff received in lieu of his ticket after leaving Omaha, contained these words: *429“No stop-over check given on this ticket;” and in this respect it declared the rights of the plaintiff to be the same which would have been implied under the rule and authorities just referred to.

The plaintiff himself terminated the contract when he voluntarily left the train at Sacramento, which place was not the end of his journey. In this view, and assuming that prior to his arrival at Sacramento the plaintiff had not broken his contract, the leave said to have been given him at Ogden by a conductor to visit Salt Lake and return within a week cannot be of any legal consequence.

Judgment and order reversed and cause remanded for a new trial.

Reference

Full Case Name
B. R. DREW v. THE CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY
Cited By
2 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Passenger on Railroad.—If a passenger who has purchased a ticket from a railroad company which is silent on the subject of his stopping over, stops over before he reaches the point to which the ticket entitled him to ride, he cannot resume his journey on the ticket. Idem.—If a passenger on a railroad leaves the train before he has arrived at the point to which his ticket entitled him to ride, he voluntarily terminates his contract with the company to carry him to such point.