Godfrey v. Meridian Light & Railway Co.
Godfrey v. Meridian Light & Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
The sixth instruction given for the defendant is fatally erroneous, for two reasons: First, it assumes what was certainly in controversy that Freeman and Chatham
The sixth instruction is as follows: “Unless the plaintiff has shown by a preponderance of the testimony that Freeman and Chatham willfully refused to stop at . a time and place when plaintiff was entitled to board the car then plaintiff is not entitled to recover punitive or exemplary damages against defendant; that punitive or exemplary damages are what is called in law smart money, or vindictive damages to be given in cases when those against whom they are inflicted have been guilty of willfully and knowingly wronging the party or parties claiming said damages.” .
The fourth instruction given for the defendant is as follows: “The court instructs the jury that the burden of proof is on plaintiff to show by a preponderance of the evidence that defendant’s servants negligently omitted to stop the car and take her on as a passenger before plaintiff is entitled to recover at all; and, further, that, in the event the jury should believe from the evidence that defendant’s servants did negligently omit to stop the car and accept plaintiff as a passenger, the burden is also on plaintiff to show by a preponderance of the testimony that she sustained actual damages and the
The second instruction for the defendant is also erroneous, because it omits liability growing out of gross negligence. The instruction was calculated to make the jury believe that they might find for the defendant simply because the motorman and conductor did not, as a fact, actually see the plaintiff. The servants of the defendant company were required to use due care to see her, and if, by the exercise of due care, they would have seen her, the defendant would be liable. The instruction ignored the right of recovery growing out of gross negligence. The second instruction given for defendant is as follows: “If the jury believe from the evidence in this case that the conductor and motorman did not see plaintiff, and did not intentionally capriciously decline to stop the car and let her take passage thereon, the
Harper v. State, 83 Miss., 402, 35 South. 572, announces the true rule, which is: “Where an abstract proposition of law is incorrectly announced by an in
1 But where*, as in the instant case, the' court undertakes to collate certain facts, and, making a concrete application of the law to such facts, instructs the jury to bring in a stated verdict if they believe in their existence, and the'facts therein stated will'not legally sustain the verdict directed,- such error cannot be cured by other in- ■ structionsthe reason for the difference being that-in the first instance 'it is simply an erroneous statement of a legal principle,'which may or may* not mislead the jury, according* to the varying circumstances -of causes, but in the'latter -instance,-where a verdict is directed to be based upon the facts stated in the instruction, other instructions' embodying other and different statements of facts and authorizing verdicts to be predicated thereon do not modify the erroneous instruction, but simply conflict therewith: If, by an erroneous instruction, a jury be charged to convict if they believe certain facts 'to exist, and by another instruction the jury be told'that they Should acquit unless they believe that certain other facts also exist, these instructions do. not modify, but contradict, each other. The one is not explanatory of the other, but in conflict therewith. In such a state of case the jury is left without any sure or certain guide to conduct them to the proper conclusion. Hawthorne v. State, 58 Miss. 778; Collins v. State, 71 Miss. 691, 15 South. 42; Josephine v. State, 39 Miss. 617; Owens v. State, 80 Miss. 499, 32 South. 152.
This instruction was fatally erroneous, and not cured. We notice just one other matter. Testimony is set out
Reversed and remanded.
The above opinion is adopted as the opinion of the court, and, for the reasons therein indicated, the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded.
Suggestion of error filed and overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Miss Susie Russell Godfrey v. Meridian Light & Railway Co.
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Instructions. Damages. Carriers. Duty to receive passengers action for failure. Grounds of liability. Instructions cured by others. An instruction which assumes as true a controverted fact is erroneous. 2. Damages. Punitive. Grounds for imposing. Punitive damages áre recoverable, not only for willful and intentional wrong, but for such gross and reckless negligence as is the equivalent of willful wrong in the eye of the law. 3. Carriers. Duty to receive passengers. Action for failure-. Instructions. In an action against a street car company for damages for failing to stop its car and admit plaintiff as a passenger, an instruction that “if plaintiff did not sustain any actual damages, and that the conductor of defendant’s servants was not insulting ‘and’ intentionally willful, even though negligent, then the jury should only award plaintiff nominal damages,” is erroneous for two reasons. First, because it required the jury to believe that defendant’s conduct was insulting, capricious and intentionally willful, the three adverbs should have been used in the alternative and not conjunctively, and second, the phrase “even though negligent” would have warranted the jury in believing that any degree of negligence, even gross negligence was intended. 4. Carriers. Duty to receive passengeres. Actions for' failure. Instructions. If an intending passenger is at a proper place and in time to catch an approaching street car and could have been seen by the servants of the company in charge of such car by the exercise of due care, then a failure to see such passenger and to stop and take her up is negligence and renders the company liable for damages. 5. Same. In such case if the conduct of defendant servants was characterized by willful, intentional or reckless disregard of plaintiff’s right, exemplary damages may be imposed. 6. Instructions Cured bx Others. Where an abstract proposition of law is announced by an instruction and the same or similar propositions of law are thereafter correctly set forth in other instructions in the cause, then if taking the instructions on both sides as a whole, the court can safely affirm that no harm has been done to either side, and that the right result has been reached, the verdict óf the jury will not, in such cases be disturbed. 7. Same. But where the court undertakes to collect certain facts, and making a concrete application of the law to such facts, instructs the jury to bring in a stated verdict if they believe in their existence, and the facts therein stated will not legally sustain the verdict directed, such error cannot be cured by other instructions. 8. Carriers. Duty to receive passengers. Admissibility of evidence. In an action against a carrier for failure to stop its car and receive a woman and child as passengers, evidence of the motorman as to seeing a woman and child waiting for the car and as to what was done' by the conductor and motorman with respect thereto was admissible.