Leyser v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Leyser v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad
Opinion of the Court
— Plaintiff sued the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company (known as the “Burlington”), the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Company to recover actual and exemplary damages for his alleged wrongful ejection at Aurora, Illinois, from a Burlington passenger train. At the trial he took a voluntary nonsuit as to the last two named defendants and proceeded against the Burlington. He recovered judgment for $600 actual and $400 exemplary damages and the cause is here on the appeal of defendant.
On July 20, 1907, plaintiff applied to the agent of the Pennsylvania Company at Kansas City for a ticket to Norfolk, Va., and return. That company maintained a passenger agent at Kansas City but had no line of its OAvn into that city, St. Louis and Chicago being the Western termini of its lines. It had a traffic arrangement with the Burlington and Wabash Companies respecting passenger business between Kansas City and
“2d. Going trip. That Going trip must begin on date of sale as stamped on back and written hereon by Selling Agent, and this Ticket must he used by continuous passage to destination prior to midnight of date punched by Selling Agent in Column 1.
“3d. Return trip. That Return trip must begin on date stamped on back by Validating Agent, which date must not be later than Sept. 18, 1907, and this ticket must be used by continuous passage to original starting point prior to midnight of date punched by Validating Agent in Column 2 which date shall not be more than three (3) days after date of validation.
“4th. Validation for return. That this ticket will not be good for return trip unless signed on back by original purchaser, in the presence of the authorized Validating Agent of Terminal Line at Destination over which ticket reads therefrom, and stamped and witnessed by said validating agent.
*37 “5th. Identification. That the holder must he identified as the person named hereon and who signed this ticket as the original purchaser, to the satisfaction of any ^conductor or agent, by signature and otherwise, whenever requested.
“6th. Non-Transferable. That if this ticket be presented for validation, passage or checking of baggage by any other than the original purchaser it will not be honored but will be forfeited and any Agent or Conductor of any line over which it reads shall have the right to take up and cancel the ticket.
“7th. Stop-Overs. That it is subject to the stopover regulations of the lines over which it reads.
“12th. Non-Modification of terms. That no agent or employe of any line has power to alter, modify or waive any of the conditions of this contract.”
On the back of the ticket appears the following with reference to validation at Norfolk: “Validation. Instructions to Validating Agents. Stamp date of validation in space below and punch Return Transit Limit in Column 2 on face of Contract, being governed by number of days inserted by Selling Agent in third clause of contract. If number of days is not inserted in third clause, Validating Agent will be governed by “transit limit” shown in- one-way tariff as applicable from Validating Station to the Original Starting Point.”
Plaintiff desired to exercise stop-over privileges in the east and he so informed the selling agent. He was told to disregard the restrictive provisions of the ticket and be guided by a printed circular issued by the Pennsylvania Company, copy of which the agent handed plaintiff. We quote from the testimony of plaintiff: “Well, he told me that everything on that ticket was disregarded'; pay no attention to it, time limit and everything, and if I got back by the 18th of September that I was all right; and then he handed me that circular. He said if any conductors — they have all been notified, this circular has been sent to every conductor on the
“Circular No. 2814. Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh. The Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway Co., The Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railroad Co., The Pennsylvania Company, The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co., The Vandalia Railroad Co. Passenger Department, June 19, 1907. Stop-over Privileges on Jamestown Exposition Tickets. It should be distinctly understood that no stop-over privileges whatever will be permitted on the Pennsylvania Lines West of Pittsburgh. To Representatives of Connecting Lines and to Ticket Agents, Pennsylvania Lines: The Pennsylvania Railroad Company announce, effective June 21st, 1907, the following stop-over privileges on excursion tickets of that Company’s or of foreign lines’ issue to Norfolk, Va., on account of the Jamestown Exposition.” Then follows a statement of the various stopover privileges allowed.
Plaintiff used the ticket to Norfolk and when ready to begin the return journey, presented it to the validating agent who stamped it July 31, 1907, and punched it to expire August 3rd. On the return trip, plaintiff was permitted by the Pennsylvania conductors to stop off at two cities, viz., Washington and Harrisburg and his ticket was honored to Chicago, where he arrived late in the afternoon of August 8th. That night at 10:30, he boarded one of defendant’s passenger trains for Kansas City. He showed the ticket to a gatekeeper at the station who punched it and passed him through the gate. He entered and seated himself in the chair car and handed his ticket to the conductor who, after examination, declared the ticket “dead” and refused to accept it. The point made by the conductor was that as the validating agent had stamped and punched the ticket to expire August 3rd, it was not good for passage after that date.
All this is denied by witnesses for defendant who say the plaintiff was treated courteously. The evidence of plaintiff is substantial and. for present purposes, we must accept it as the true version of what occurred. The court refused defendant’s request for a peremptory instruction and at the request of plaintiff, instructed the jury “that if you find and believe from the evidence that on or about July 20, 1907, the • defendants, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, The Pennsylvania Railroad Company and the Pennsylvania Company, undertook, for hire, to carry the plaintiff from Kansas City, Missouri, to Norfolk, Virginia, and return, with the privilege of stop-overs at Washington, D. C., and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, within the final return limit of sixty (60) days from said July 20, 1907. That said named defendants gave to the plaintiff the ticket introduced in evidence, and at the same time gave to the plaintiff the circular (No. 2814), introduced in evidence, and informed the plaintiff that the limitations
At the threshold of our consideration of the case, the most important question is whether the ticket offered by the plaintiff to defendant’s conductor entitled him to transportation from Chicago to Kansas City. Was it in full force at that time, or had it expired? If, by the terms of the contract the ticket had expired the conductor was acting within his right and his duty to his employer in refusing to accept it and in ejecting plaintiff from the train on his refusal to pay fare. But in no event had the conductor the right to employ unnecessary force in the ejection nor to assault and humiliate plaintiff with insulting, abusive or threatening language.
Should we find that the ticket stated the entire contract between plaintiff and the carriers over whose lines it called for transportation and, further, that the third condition printed on the face of the ticket conclusively fixed the period after the validation at Norfolk in which the return trip was to be completed, we would be compelled to sanction the contention of defendant that the ticket expired August 3rd and was not good for passage five days later. The third clause imperatively required plaintiff to begin the return trip on the date stamped
“It has been held by a number of the highest courts in the United States, that when, as in this case, the ticket on its face purports to be a special contract of carriage, and is based upon a valuable consideration, that is to say, sold at a reduced rate, then the ticket itself constitutes a contract of carriage between the parties, and the provision limiting the time within which it shall be*43 good, and providing that it shall be stamped as of the date when the return passage is commenced, by the ticket agent at that place, and that the holder of the ticket must identify himself or herself to such agent as the original purchaser thereof, and sign the same in his presence, and the signing and attestation dated and indicated by punched marks on the ticket, and that such ticket should only be good for a continuous return passage commenced on that date, is' a reasonable regulation and binding upon the holder of such a ticket.”
But, unfortunately for the position of defendant, the third clause of the ticket does not purport to. express the whole contract relating to the time and manner of the return trip. We are willing, arguendo, to stand with defendant in its position that the selling agent at Kansas City had no authority by oral promises or representations to alter or vary the terms of the written contract, though it must be apparent that he was the agent of defendant and that in the eye of the law, defendant was present when he made the promises and representations, and approved and ratified all that he said or did. We have in mind the rule that antecedent or contemporaneous oral promises or representations which contradict, vary or enlarge the terms of a written contract are merged into the written contract, but this rule does not aid defendant, for the reason that the oral representations of the selling agent were merely a repetition of the representations appearing in the circular of the Pennsylvania lines,- and these representations, as we shall show, do not contradict, vary, nor enlarge the terms of the contract but by its terms are made a part of the contract as fully as would have been the case had they been copied into the ticket.
The seventh clause • of the contract in providing “that it is subject to the stop-over regulations of the lines over which it reads” could mean no less than that the other clauses of the 'contract, including the third, were subordinated to and made subject to the seventh
Many objections to the instruction given at the request of plaintiff are urged by defendant, but in what we have said, they are sufficiently answered. We find no prejudicial error in that instruction, nor in the trial of the case.
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- JEREMIAH C. LEYSER v. CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILROAD COMPANY
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published