Arkansas Motor Coaches, Ltd., Inc. v. Whitlock

136 S.W.2d 184, 199 Ark. 820, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 37
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 15, 1940
Docket4-5744
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 136 S.W.2d 184 (Arkansas Motor Coaches, Ltd., Inc. v. Whitlock) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arkansas Motor Coaches, Ltd., Inc. v. Whitlock, 136 S.W.2d 184, 199 Ark. 820, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 37 (Ark. 1940).

Opinion

Holt, J.

Appellant brings this appeal from a judgment against it in the Clark circuit court in the sum of $250 for damages alleged to have been sustained byappellee as a result of being wrongfully ejected from appellant’s bus at Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

It is alleged in appellee’s complaint that on March 25, 1939, after having first procured a ticket to Gurdon, Arkansas, at appellant’s station in Arkadelphia, he boarded appellant’s bus and presented his ticket to the bus driver, which was accepted; that at the driver’s request appellee took a small seat next to the' driver’s seat; that the bus driver, without any reason therefor, maliciously and willfully shouted to appellee that he, the driver, was going to throw appellee off the bus; that the driver grabbed him by the right arm, pulled him, appellee, 'up from his seat and escorted him from appellant’s bus, in the presence of the passengers, which caused appellee embarrassment, humiliation and to suffer mental anguish.

It is further alleged in the complaint that the bus driver escorted appellee to appellant’s ticket office, ordered the ticket agent to refund appellee’s fare, telling said agent, “I don’t need him on my bus”; that said driver ‘ ‘ returned to his bus and drove off, leaving plaintiff stranded and without means of transportation to his home several miles west of Gurdon.

“That after unsuccessfully searching for a ride to Gurdon, plaintiff started walking to Gurdon where he was scheduled to make connections with another car which would leave Gurdon at five o ’clock p. m. and take plaintiff to his home. Plaintiff was forced to walk approximately two miles before he was invited to ride and in the meantime he was caught in a downpour of rain, from which he contracted a cold and a sore throat and the £flu.’ Plaintiff arrived at Gurdon too late to catch his connection there and was forced to begin walking home over a muddy country road after dark and did walk about three miles between Gurdon and his home.” He prayed for damages in the sum of $1,262.

Appellant answered denying every material allegation set out in the complaint and further answering alleged that at the time appellee presented his ticket to the bus driver and. sought transportation on the bus all the available seats on the bus were taken and appellee was given permission to sit on the box covering the projection of the motor if he so desired; that appellee objected to sitting on the covering whereupon the bus driver invited him to go with him into the ticket office that he might return his money for the ticket, and that appellee accepted a refund of the fare, but refused to surrender the ticket.

Upon a trial to a jury a verdict was returned in favor of appellee in the sum of $250. Prom the judgment on the verdict comes this appeal.

The facts as presented by this record, stated in their most favorable' light to appellee, are to the following effect:

Appellee, a young man of 29 years of age, bought his ticket at appellant’s station at Arkadelphia, Arkansas, to ride to Gurdon. The driver accepted his ticket, he boarded the bus, and quoting appellee’s testimony: “A. He taken the ticket and I started in the bus to sit down, and he said, ‘ Say, you will have to sit on this little box if you don’t mind,’ and I said, ‘Yes, sir’ — anyway, there was a kid sitting on another seat with his feet run out in front of me and I sat there a minute and I said to this boy in front of me, ‘Say, get your feet out of the way or I am liable to skin my knees and I will be suing the company like the man did that bumped his elbow on a suitcase.’ The driver was sitting down and he got up and said, ‘Come on and get off,’ and he caught me by the arm and led me down the steps and says, ‘Hand me your ticket.’ ”

Here we quote further from appellee’s testimony, as abstracted in appellant’s brief, as follows: “I was sitting down when he caught me by the arm. The bus was crowded. I was just talking to that kid like I would to somebody else in the seat. I said, ‘Move your feet over or I am liable to skin my knees. ’

“I handed him (meaning the bus driver) the ticket. He punched it and we walked in to thé ticket agent and he said, ‘Give this man his money back. I don’t need him on my bus. ’ He' gave me the money — thirty cents.

“I left the bus station. I came uptown and tried to catch a ride home. I met Mr. Will Green and asked him about going with him and he said he was loaded. Then 1 went to the mule barn and tried to catch a truck and couldn’t. It was raining and when it quit raining, I started home. I couldn’t catch a ride until I got on the highway. I am married.

“I live a quarter of a mile from my nearest neighbor on a country road. If I caught the ride on the bus, I was going out with Paul Clark from Gurdon. He is a farmer close to me.

“I was anxious to get back to attend to my stuff and be with my wife before dark. I walked out to the ‘Two Cent Less’ station and it started raining. I walked on in a drizzle and some fellows came along and picked me up and carried me to Gurdon. When I got there, I caught a ride with Mr. Grady Clark out to his house, and I walked from there to my home. It was between sundown and dark when I left Gurdon. My health was good. I haven’t taken any medicine in about three years. I got up Sunday morning and my throat was sore. I couldn’t swallow and I taken some soda water and coal oil and sugar. But I kept going. I was up at Arkadelphia again Tuesday. I taken severe pains and went around to the doctor. I don’t remember the doctor’s name. Dr. Page, he examined me and said I had the flu. The next morning I wasn’t able to get up. I had Dr. Alford from Okolona the Sunday after my discharge from the bus. I was confined to my home eight or ten days. I wasn’t in.bed all that time. I was embarrassed in the presence of the passengers.”

Appellee’s witness, Burl Cornelius, a passenger on the bus at the time, testified that the bus driver took appellee by the arm and led him off the bus.

The bus driver, L. J. Long, testified that after he had refused appellee permission to ride he accepted another passenger, one Freeman, and gave him a seat on the bus which he admitted was a safe place for Freeman to ride.

Appellant first insists that the evidence is not sufficient to take the case to the jury.' We think it was.

In the instant case the appellee did not voluntarily surrender his ticket or his right to be carried as a passenger on appellant’s bus. He insisted on his right to be carried as a passenger and offered to sit where directed by the bus driver.' Under the facts, we think, there was no cause or reason shown to warrant the bus driver in evicting appellee from the bus in the manner shown and that his act in laying his hands on appellee, taking him by the arm, leading him from the busy thus humiliating and embarrassing him in front of the.passengers, constituted an actionable wrong for mental anguish for which appellant would be liable.

While the rule in this state is, as stated in the case of St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Taylor, 84 Ark. 42, 104 S. W. 551, 13 L. R. A., N.

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Bluebook (online)
136 S.W.2d 184, 199 Ark. 820, 1940 Ark. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arkansas-motor-coaches-ltd-inc-v-whitlock-ark-1940.