Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Pearce
Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Pearce
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
It is plainly proved by the testimony, taken as a whole, that all the suffering, physical and mental, endured by the appellee, was due solely to her advanced pregnancy; she being eight months gone. She is not suing for damages caused by nursing her own child, but because she was not in condition, by reason of said pregnancy, to nurse her child at all. The proof shows clearly that she did suffer great anguish of mind and physical agony — so much so that she lost the child of which she was encientej but, while this is true, it is also true that the court excluded from the jury all the proof showing that her suffering, both mental and physical, was due to said advanced pregnancy. The court excluded all evidence of pregnancy, to which the physical and mental suffering the appellee herself says was wholly due. This out of the case, there was nothing left on which to base a finding for special damages, and we think the
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Margaret Pearce
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Telegraph Company. Delay in delivering messages. A telegraph company which wrongfully delayed the delivery of a message from a wife to her husband announcing the illness of a child and requesting the husband’s immediate return home, is liable to the wife for its negligence, where the delay resulted in the husband’s failure to return as soon as he would have done had the message been promptly delivered. 3. Same. Special damages. Pregnancy. Want of notice. Although' a telegraph company failed to seasonably deliver a message from a wife to her husband, she cannot therefor recover an item of special damage which resulted alone from the fact that she was pregnant, in the absence of evidence that the company had notice of her condition.