Pippin v. Clarke County
Pippin v. Clarke County
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellant brought a suit in the justice of the peace court against Clarke county for the value of a cow al
When the cow was started into the dipping vat one of her feet got caught in something, causing her to plunge into the dipping vat headforemost. She came, out of the vat apparently limping and was carried some distance from the dipping vat by the son of the plaintiff and left on the range. On Monday afternoon the cow failed to come home, and a search was instituted, and she was found dead. She was cut open,- and' in her stomach was found two or three cupfuls of a dark fluid resembling the fluid in the vat, but no test was made of the fluid to de
The board of supervisors refused to pay the claim for the cow and suit was brought as above stated. At the conclusion of the evidence on motion of the county the court granted a peremptory instruction for the county, upon which a verdict was rendered and judgment entered denying the claim, from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted.
The action is brought under chapter 38 of the Laws of Extra Session of Mississippi of 1917, which provides that any person in.any county shall be entitled to recover from such county reasonable compensation for any live stock owned by such person that may have been killed or permanently injured as a result of dipping for the eradication. of cattle ticks “where such dipping was done under the supervision of the board of supervisors or the Live Stock Sanitary Board.”
Was the dipping in the present case done under the supervision of the board of supervisors or the Live Stock Sanitary Board within the meaning of this provision? The inspector of the county was not present at the dipping, and had nothing to do with it except to direct that the owner who had failed to dip at the time required by the rules should dip his cattle on the following Monday.
We do not think the case comes within the statute. The liability is imposed where the dipping is done under the supervision of the agent of the county or the Live Stock Sanitary Board. In the present case the dipping was done by the owner, and the owner did what supervising was done in the present case. The intention of the statute, taking it as a whole, is to compensate the owner for an injury resulting from the negligence of the county or the Live Stock Sanitary Board free from contributory negligence on the part of the owner. It did not intend to compensate the owners for losses resulting from their own negligence. If there was any negligence in the present case, it was the negligence of the owner. There is no pretense in the record that the fluid was not properly pre
The judgment will accordingly be affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Animals. Owner dipping cattle in inspector’s absence not entitled under statute to resulting damages. Where a county was operating under the laws for tick eradication and fixed 'particular days for owners of cattle to dip them in vats constructed by the county, at which an inspector in the employment of the county was present to supervise the dipping, and a cattle owner failed to carry his cattle on said day, but at the direction of the inspector carried them to the vat on the following Monday and dipped them himself, the inspector not being present, he cannot recover for damage or injury to cattle resulting from the dipping under his own supervision, under chapter 38, Laws, Extra Session of Mississippi of 1917. 2. Aximaxs. Statute net intended to allow damages for owner’s negligence in dipping cattle. The intention of the Legislature in enacting chapter 38, Laws of Extra Session of 1917, is to allow owners of cattle damaged by the negligence of the agents of the county damages for such negligence, and it is not intended to allow owners of cattle damage for their own negligence. To obtain damages under this act the claimant must bring his case within the terms of the act.