Beck v. Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad

108 S.W. 132, 129 Mo. App. 7, 1908 Mo. App. LEXIS 82
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 4, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 108 S.W. 132 (Beck v. Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beck v. Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City Railroad, 108 S.W. 132, 129 Mo. App. 7, 1908 Mo. App. LEXIS 82 (Mo. Ct. App. 1908).

Opinion

GOODE, J.

(after stating the facts) — 1. An assignment of error is raised against the first instruction given for plaintiff, which advised the jury that if they believed plaintiff when he was admitted into defendant’s train at Edina, intended to pay his fare to Hurdland, and after the train left Edina and reached a point between that station and Hurdland, a point not a usual stopping place or near a dwelling house, the conductor wrongfully and without just cause, ejected plaintiff from the train after plaintiff had tendered the conductor the legal passenger fare from Edina to Hurdland, the verdict should be for plaintiff. One objection urged to this instruction is that the evidence as a whole shows plaintiff boarded the car with the intention of beating his way to Hurdland instead of paying fare and, therefore, never became a passenger, and the court erred in submitting to the jury the question of plaintiff’s intention to pay his fare. This point may be considered in connection with defendant’s exception to the refusal of the court to direct a verdict in its favor, which is founded on the same theory, namely; that plaintiff had no intention of paying his fare and therefore was a trespasser from the first. No doubt plaintiff was guilty of acts indicating he was endeavoring to evade payment of fare, though he borrowed money from Tyhurst ostensibly to pay it. When his fare was demanded-, instead of using the borrowed money, he referred the conductor to Fox, who had not agreed to pay for his passage; and some of the witnesses say Avhen the conductor again demanded a fare after Fox had refused to pay, plaintiff said he had no money and tried to borrow from ChadAvick. Witnesses also swore no offer was made to pay until plain[19]*19tiff had been ejected from the car. But plaintiff swore unequivocally he offered to pay as soon as he was informed Fox would not, and instead of his offer, and even tender of the money, being accepted by tbe conductor, be was immediately seized and ejected from tbe train. Plaintiff was more or less intoxicated, and may have acted foolishly without intending, either when he boarded tbe train, or when bis fare was demanded, to beat his passage. On tbe entire evidence what plaintiff’s purpose was became an issue for tbe jury. If be went on tbe train intending to pay bis fare, be was a passenger and not a trespasser. [Holt v. Railroad, 174 Mo. 524, 74 S. W. 631.] And, according to tbe opinion in' said case, if plaintiff was acting in good faith, though be did not tender a ticket or tbe fare when first accosted by tbe conductor, if be tendered tbe money when it was demanded tbe second time, it was tbe duty of tbe conductor to accept it; at least if plaintiff’s version of tbe incident is tbe true one; for be swore be was seized and bis ejection from tbe car began simultaneously with bis inquiry of tbe conductor as to whether Pox bad refused to pay for him and while be himself was expressing a willingness to pay. It is argued for defendant that the doctrine of tbe Holt case is an exceptional one, and applicable only to cases in which tbe passenger went on tbe train in good faith and with a ticket which he believed entitled him to passage, but which was not available because tbe time limit on it bad expired, or for some other reason. Under such circumstances only say defendant’s counsel, is it tbe duty of a conductor, after a train has been stopped for tbe purpose of ejecting a passenger, to accept tbe latter’s tender of fare. Numerous authorities can be found to support tbe proposition that, if a person on a train refuses to pay for bis passage or produce a ticket when tbe conductor asks for a fare, and thereupon tbe conductor takes measures to stop tbe train for tbe purpose of ejecting the recusant, tbe latter by then ten[20]*20dering payment, does not gain the right to ride and make, the further prosecution of the ejection unlawful. [2 Hutchinson, Carriers (M. & D. Ed.), sec. 1085; sec. 591a original edition.] In this treatise no distinction is taken between an offer to pay fare and a tender of the money; but the text says the prevailing rule and.the one supported by the better reasons, is that a subsequent tender after a previous refusal to pay, does not entitle the traveler to ride, though he may acquire the right by complying with the conductor’s demand at any time before the process of ejection is begun; that if the refusal is persisted in after reasonable time and opportunity to comply and until the ejection has been begun by stopping the train, or otherwise, the passenger forfeits his rights and the ejection may be completed though performance is tendered by the passenger. The opinion in the Holt case draws a distinction between an offer to pay fare after the conductor has started to eject the party, and an actual tender of money to the conductor, holding if a passenger has been acting in good faith and with the intention of paying for his passage, either by a ticket which he believed to be good, or cash, the conductor must accept the fare if tendered after the expulsion of the passenger has begun and cease further to molest him. The idea of the Holt opinion is that a mere offer, without a tender of the money, may be withdrawn, and the other passengers on the train annoyed by delays growing out of repetitions of sham efforts to pay; whereas if money is tendered this cannot happen because the conductor may accept the money and permit the recusant passenger to ride. But if the latter was acting in good faith from the first, which the opinion assumes as the basis of any consideration for him, the danger of his. making successive offers to pay and immediately withdrawing them when the train is stopped to expel him, is imaginary. We do not understand the Holt case to impair the force of the previous decision in the Lillis case, that a [21]*21person is a trespasser if he intends to ride without paying and, in pursuance of this purpose, buys no ticket and refuses to pay a fare when it is asked. If bad faith and a fraudulent motive induced the refusal and the con-' ductor had begun to eject the trespasser, we think the decision in the Holt case would not require the expulsion to cease. We have held there was evidence for the jury on the issue of whether plaintiff took passage on the train intending to pay his fare and still had this intention during his interviews with the conductor. If these facts are found in his favor, and also that he tendered his fare after first refusing it, but not until steps had been taken to eject him, nevertheless, under the Holt decision his expulsion was wrongful.

It is said the first instruction given for plaintiff conflicts with the second one for defendant, which told the jury, if they found plaintiff offered to pay his fare, but before making the offer he had refused to pay, and the conductor had signalled to stop the train for the purpose of removing plaintiff, a subsequent offer did not entitle him to be carried on the train and the conductor was under no obligation to permit him to ride. Under the Holt casie an offer to pay, not accompanied by a tender of the money, would be insufficient to put the conductor in the wrong in going on Avith the expulsion. In the first instruction given for plaintiff, his right to continue on the train after he had failed to pay his fare Avhen it was first demanded, Avas made to depend on a subsequent tender. The tAvo instructions are reconcilable by the distinction taken in the Holt case.

2.

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Bluebook (online)
108 S.W. 132, 129 Mo. App. 7, 1908 Mo. App. LEXIS 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beck-v-quincy-omaha-kansas-city-railroad-moctapp-1908.