Sonman Shaft Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania R. R.
Sonman Shaft Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania R. R.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The elaborate opinion of the learned trial judge denying the motion for a new trial and for judgment non obstante leaves nothing that can be profitably said in support of his conclusion sustaining the judgment from which this appeal was taken. We need but state briefly the facts and the issues involved.
The defendant denied the right of the plaintiff to recover for the following reasons: The court below did not have jurisdiction of the action, only such portion of the coal which was intended ultimately to be delivered within the State can be recovered for in this action, defendant was not bound to supply all the cars demanded by the plaintiff, and plaintiff demanded only its pro rata share of the cars, which it got. The court ruled the two questions of law against the defendant and submitted the case to the jury who returned a verdict for the plaintiff on which judgment was entered. The defendant has appealed.
The case was carefully tried and was submitted to the jury in a clear and comprehensive charge reviewing the testimony and directing attention to all the questions of fact involved. It would serve no good purpose to examine and discuss the large amount of evidence produced at the trial. It is sufficient to say that after a painstaking examination of it all, we are satisfied that it warranted the finding of the jury.
The controlling question of jurisdiction, a question of law, is dealt with by the court in its opinion, and the federal cases, with the exception of one or two recent decisions, and our two recent cases bearing on the question are cited, and sustain the learned judge’s conclusion. We think it unnecessary to discuss this question as we must sustain the jurisdiction or overrule our own two very recent decisions in Puritan Coal Mining Company v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 237 Pa. 420, and Walnut Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 237 Pa. 410, which were ruled expressly on the authority of the Supreme Court of the United States. This we have no intention of doing. The Puritan and Walnut cases were brought against the defendant in the present case and were to recover damages for unlawful discrimination and failure to furnish plaintiff with an adequate and sufficient car supply. In both cases, the defendant denied the jurisdiction of the court and relied on the federal authorities, with the exception of one or two recent cases, cited and relied on here, to oust the
We are of the opinion that this case was properly disposed of by the learned court below and, therefore, the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Sonman Shaft Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania R. R. Co.
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- Syllabus
- Common carriers — Railroad companies — Refusal to supply cars —Courts—Jurisdiction—Federal and state courts — Interstate commerce — Police power — Damages—Measure of damages. 1. Where a duty has been imposed upon a-carrier by the common law and the statutes of a state, as well as by a federal statute, an action for breach of such duty, except as other reasons may be shown, may be maintained in the state courts. 2. In an action in a state court, to recover damages from a railroad company for breach of its common law duty as a carrier to furnish adequate transportation facilities, in that it refused to furnish plaintiff with sufficient coal cars, where defendant questioned the jurisdiction of the court, alleging that it was a carrier engaged in interstate commerce, and that such practices as those complained of had been the subject of federal legislation, and could be examined and controlled only by the interstate commerce commission, and by the federal courts, under the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act, the jurisdiction of the state court to entertain the action was properly sustained, as the police power of the State extends to compelling common carriers to furnish the public adequate service, and the exercise thereof in such case could but indirectly affect interstate commerce. 3. A verdict for plaintiff in such case was sustained, where it appeared from the evidence that during the period when the default complained of occurred, defendant had a surplus of cars stored on its tracks, which it refused to supply to plaintiff, that defendant always, had an adequate supply of cars under normal conditions, but no abnormal conditions were set up as an excuse for defendant’s default, and further that gross discrimination had been practiced in supplying cars to other companies. 4. Damages in such case may be recovered, measured by the loss of profits on coal not mined, because cars were not furnished to ship it, and by the increased cost per ton of producing coal mined, over what the cost would have been had cars been furnished up to the capacity of the mine.