Bennett v. Charleston Union Station Co.
Bennett v. Charleston Union Station Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
This is an action for damages, alleged to have been sustained by the plaintiff, through the wrongful acts of the defendants. The allegations of the complaint, material to the questions presented by the exceptions, are as follows:
“That on or about the 10th day of May, 1910, the plaintiff above named, Alice Bennett, was in the employ of said Charleston Union Station Company, one of the defendants herein, as a car cleaner.
“That on or about said 10th day of May, 1910, and at or about the hour of 9 o’clock, p. m., the said Alice Bennett was at work as a car cleaner, scrubbing out a car which had just come in from the city of Augusta; that while the said plaintiff was about her duties scrubbing out said car, an engine and tender suddenly came down and upon said car, in which the said plaintiff was at work, struck said car with great force and violence, and threw the plaintiff to the floor of the car, causing her serious and permanent injuries to her head, right hip, right shoulder and left leg.
“That the injuries to the plaintiff aforesaid, as she is informed and believes, were caused by the joint and concurrent negligence, carelessness, recklessness and wantonness of said defendant corporations,- their agents and servants, in the following particulars, to wit:
“(a) In causing and allowing an engine and tender, to come down and upon the said car in which plaintiff was at work, without notice or warning to the said plaintiff.
“ (b) By causing and allowing a switch to be wrongfully turned, so that an engine and tender could come down and upon the car, in which said plaintiff was working, without *310 notice or warning to said plaintiff, of the approach of said engine and tender.
“(c) By failing and omitting to take any precautions, by setting out lights, or otherwise, to prevent said engine and tender, from .coming down and upon the car, in which said plaintiff was at work.”
The defendants denied the allegations of negligence and recklessness.
At the close of the plaintiff’s testimony, the defendants’ attorney made a motion for a nonsuit, “so far as the cause of action for punitive damages is concerned, certainly so far as the Union Station is concerned, on the ground that there is a total absence of testimony, to sustain the cause of action for punitive damages.”
The motion was refused.
At the close of. all the testimony the defendants’ attorney made a motion for the direction of a verdict, on the same ground, which was also refused.
The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, for one thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.
A motion for a new trial was made on the grounds “that the damages were excessive; that there was no evidence to support the verdict, and that it was contrary to the charge of the Judge.”
This motion was likewise refused, and the defendants appealed.
The first proposition argued by the appellants’ attorney is, that there was no 'testimony as to punitive damages'.
In the case of Tolleson v. Ry., 88 S. C. 7, the principle was announced that “not only is the conscious invasion of the rights of another, in a wanton, wilful and reckless manner, an act of wrong, but that the same result follows, when the wrongdoer does not actually realize, that he is invading the rights of another, provided, the act is committed in such a manner, that a person of ordinary prudence would say, that it was a reckless disregard of another’s rights.”
The exceptions raising this question are overruled.
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There was testimony tending to show, that the plaintiff sustained the injuries alleged in the complaint, and, as it has been determined, that there was testimony tending to show recklessness, on the part of the defendants, we see no reason for disturbing the verdict on the ground of caprice or passion, on the part of the jury.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Railroads — Wileul-ness.—Evidence tending to show a telegraph opei'ator in a tower sent an engine on without having properly set all the switches, as he thought, and upon discovering his error the engine was running so fast it would have been dangerous to attempt to remedy his mistake, which he could have done if the engine had been running at the speed required by the rules, will support a verdict for punitive damages for injury to an employee working on a car which the engine runs into. 2. Verdict. — There being evidence tending to show plaintiff received the injuries alleged and of recklessness, there is no reason to disturb the vex-dict on the ground that it was prompted by caprice or passion.