Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad v. Evans

82 N.E. 773, 169 Ind. 410, 1907 Ind. LEXIS 75
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 26, 1907
DocketNo. 21,069
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 82 N.E. 773 (Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad v. Evans) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad v. Evans, 82 N.E. 773, 169 Ind. 410, 1907 Ind. LEXIS 75 (Ind. 1907).

Opinion

Jordan, J.

Action by appellee to recover damages on account of an alleged wrongful expulsion by appellant railroad company from its train of cars. Appellee, as complainant below, alleges, inter alia, that the defendant is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Indiana; that it is a common carrier, and for more than two years last past has been engaged in operating, for the carriage of passengers for hire, a railroad running from Cincinnati, Ohio, into and through the State of Indiana; that part of its said line passes through Clark county, Indiana, to the city of Louisville, Kentucky; that the town of Otisco, in Clark county, in which town the plaintiff had resided for over twenty years, is a station on said line of railroad ; that on November 9; 1904, he purchased from the defendant’s agent in charge of its station office at said town of Otisco a “twenty-trip family ticket,” which defendant kept for sale at said station, paying for such ticket $8; that this ticket had attached thereto twenty coupons, each of which entitled the plaintiff to be carried over defendant’s road between said stations of Otisco and Louisville, upon any of its trains stopping at the former station; thg.t the time for which the ticket was good for use on defend-' ant’s road was limited to four months from November 9, 1904, the date of purchase, making the date of expiration March 9, 1905; that through and by the mistake and negligence of defendant’s selling agent the ticket was made to expire on March 9, 1904, said date being written on the ticket by defendant’s agent at the time of the sale thereof.

The complaint alleges other facts going to show that on December 2, 1904, plaintiff boarded one of defendant’s trains at the town of Otisco for the purpose of being carried thereon as a passenger to the city of Louisville, Kentucky; that when he took passage on said train he had in his possession the ticket in controversy, which still had attached thereto four unused coupons, each of which entitled him to be carried either way between the aforesaid stations; [412]*412that the agent of the defendant, the conductor in charge of said train, called upon plaintiff to pay the regular fare from Otisco to Louisville'; that, in response to said request and demand, plaintiff presented to said conductor the ticket in question with its four coupons attached; that on examination thereof, the conductor refused to honor it, and declined to accept any of its coupons so attached as evidence that plaintiff had paid his fare and was therefore entitled to be carried as a passenger over said railroad; that the conductor demanded that plaintiff either pay the regular fare from Otisco to the city of Louisville or leave the train, and contended that, because the date, as written on the first page of the cover thereof, as the time upon which the ticket would expire, was March 4, 1904, said ticket was no longer good, and did not entitle plaintiff to be carried thereon. Plaintiff alleges that he explained to the conductor that said date must be a mistake, and that March 9, 1904, as written upon the ticket, was .intended for March 9, 1905, the date of expiration; that, notwithstanding said explanations as given by the plaintiff to the conductor to show that his ticket had not expired, the latter still refused to honor it, and then and there requested that plaintiff pay his fare from Otisco to Louisville, which payment he refused to make on the ground that he was entitled to be carried over defendant’s road upon said ticket; that thereupon the conductor caused the train to be stopped, and wrongfully and in a rude and insolent manner, and in the hearing and presence of the other passengers, ejected plaintiff from the train. The pleading closes with the allegation that by said expulsion the plaintiff was greatly outraged, humiliated, etc.', and damages are demanded in the sum of $3,000. In the light of the facts alleged it is manifest that plaintiff bases his action herein wholly upon tort and not upon contract.

The defendant unsuccessfully demurred to the complaint for want of facts, and thereafter filed an answer in five paragraphs, the first being the general denial. The second [413]*413paragraph of the answer avers: “That the coupon ticket mentioned in plaintiff’s complaint was a special rate ticket, sold at a reduced rate in consideration that the same should be purchased, held and used by the plaintiff in conformity with the contract printed and written upon said ticket and made part thereof; that said ticket was called a ‘twenty-trip family' ticket, ’ and contained twenty coupons, each one of which entitled the plaintiff, or a dependent member of his family, to passage between Otisco station and Louisville station on defendant’s railroad, when presented and used under the conditions named in said contract; that said contract was partly printed and partly written on said ticket, and a copy of the material parts thereof is filed with and made a part of this,answer, marked exhibit A; that the plaintiff purchased said ticket' at a reduced and less rate than the regular rate of fare between Otisco and Louisville, in consideration of the agreements and obligations upon the plaintiff in said contract contained, and, among others, the following agreement and obligations on the part of the plaintiff,” etc. This agreement is embodied in the paragraph, and is the same one hereinafter set out in the evidence. The paragraph then proceeds to show that the plaintiff, after the purchase of the ticket alleged in his complaint, but previously to December 2, 1904, the date of the expulsion, had violated said contract bjr transferring said ticket to certain persons named and mentioned in said pleading; that such transfer of the ticket consisted in plaintiff’s allowing and permitting each of the aforesaid named persons to use it and travel upon one of the coupons thereof over defendant’s railroad between Otisco .and Louisville; that neither of the persons so using said ticket, as aforesaid, was a dependent member of plaintiff’s family; that plaintiff, by reason of the wrongful transfers and the use of said ticket, had, under its terms and conditions, forfeited all of his rights thereunder before December 2, 1904, and therefore was not at the time the ticket was presented to the con[414]*414ductor, as alleged in the complaint, entitled to passage thereon upon defendant’s said train of cars.

With some exceptions, the fourth paragraph of the answer is substantially the same as the second.

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Bluebook (online)
82 N.E. 773, 169 Ind. 410, 1907 Ind. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baltimore-ohio-southwestern-railroad-v-evans-ind-1907.