Brown v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.

11 N.W. 356, 54 Wis. 342, 1882 Wisc. LEXIS 16
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 14, 1882
StatusPublished
Cited by87 cases

This text of 11 N.W. 356 (Brown v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., 11 N.W. 356, 54 Wis. 342, 1882 Wisc. LEXIS 16 (Wis. 1882).

Opinion

The following opinion was filed January 10,1882:

Taylor, J.

Upon this appeal the learned counsel for'the railway company insisted that the damages claimed for the sickness of the wife, and for her medical attendance and care, are too remote to constitute a cause of action, and that it was error on the part of the court below not to take that part of the case from- the jury.

The first position taken by the learned counsel for the appellant is, that the cause of action set out in the plaintiffs’ complaint is for a breach of contract, and not an action in tort. Upon this point we cannot agree with the appellant. We think the gravamen of the action is the negligence and carelessness of the appellant’s agents and employees in directing the plaintiffs to leave the train before they had arrived at the end of their journey. They did not leave at a place short of their destination knowing that fact, but through the neglect of the appellant’s employees they were induced to. leave the train short of their jonrney’s end, supposing that’they had reached it. It is true, the plaintiffs in their complaint state that they paid their fare and went on board the train as passengers, to be carried from one point to another on the appellant’s road, and that by reason of such payment and entry upon that train it became the duty of the appellant to carry them from the point of starting to their destination. These facts are, perhaps, sufficient to constitute a- contract on the part of the appellant to safely carry them to their destination. Still, it is necessary in all actions against a carrier of passengers to state facts which show the right of the party to be carried, before he can complain of any breach of duty on the part of the carrier in not conveying them safety, or in not carrying them to their destination. The complaint in this cas.e is not so much that the [348]*348plaintiffs were not carried to tlieir destination, bnt that on the way the appellant’s employees carelessly and negligently induced them to quit the train before they arrived at their destination, and that in consequence of such wrong on the part of the appellants they suffered damage. It is the negligence in putting the plaintiffs off the train before the journey was completed, which is complained of, and not a breach of the contract in not carrying them to the end of their journey.

We see no reason for distinguishing this case from the class of eases which hold a rail.way company liable in tort for an injury done to a passenger, while traveling on a train, caused by collision, the breaking down of a bridge, or any defect in the road or cars. All these matters are a breach of the contract to carry the passenger safely; yet the carrier is held liable in an action of tort, for any injury sustained, based upon the allegation that it wras incurred through the carelessness and negligence of the company. All the cases hold that the person injured through the negligence or carelessness of the carrier may proceed either upon contract, alleging the careless or negligent acts of the defendant as a breach of the contract, or he may proceed in tort, making the carelessness and negligence of the company the ground of his right of recovery; and if he proceed- for the tort, it becomes necessary on the part of the plaintiff to show ¡that he stands in the relation of a passenger of the carrier, in order to show his right to recover damages for the negligence of the carrier in not discharging his duty in carrying him safely. Where the relation of passenger and carrier exists, the law fixes the duty of the carrier towards the passenger, and any violation of that duty is a.wrong; and if injury occurs to the passenger from such wrong, the carrier is responsible and must make good the damage resulting therefrom. Wood v. Railway Co., 32 Wis., 398; Walsh v. Railway Co., 42 Wis., 23; Craker v. Railway Co., 36 Wis., 657-675, and cases cited. In this case we deem it material to determine whether the action is an action for [349]*349a tort, or an action for a breach of the contract to carry tile plaintiffs to their destination, because we think the rules of damages in the two actions are essentially different. "We hold that the action in this case is based- upon the tort of the defendant in negligently and carelessly directing the plaintiffs to leave the ears before they reached their destination.

The plaintiffs claim, and the evidence shows, that they and their child, about seven years old, were directed to leave the cars, by the brakeman, at a place some three miles east of Mauston, being told at the time that it was Mauston, their place of destination. When they left the cars it was night; it was cloudy, and had rained the day before; there was a freight train standing on a side track where they were put off the train; there was no platform, and no lights visible except those on the freight train. Plaintiffs soon ascertained that they were not at Mansion, and did not know where they were. They did not see the station-house, although there was one, but it was.hid from their view by the freight train standing on the side track. They supposed they were at» a place two miles east, where the train sometimes stopped, but where there was no station-house. They started west on the track towards Mauston, expecting to find a house where they might stop, but did not find one until they came to' the bridge, about a mile east of Mauston, and then they thought it easier to go on to Mansion than seek shelter at the house, which was a considerable distance from the track. They went on to Mauston, and arrived there late at night, Mrs. Brown quite exhausted from the walk. She was pregnant at the time. She liad severe pains during the night, and the pains continued .from time to time, and after a few days she commenced flowing. The pains and flowing continued until some time in December, when a miscarriage took place, after which inflammation set in, and for some time she was so sick that she was in imminent danger of dying. The plaintiffs claim that the miscarriage and subsequent sickness were all caused by the [350]*350walk Mrs. Brown was compelled to take to get from the place where they were left by the train to Mauston.

The important question in the case is, whether the appellant is liable for the injury to Mrs. Brown, admitting that it was caused by her walk to Mauston. Whether the sickness of Mrs. Brown was caused by the walk to Mauston was an issue in the case, and the jury have found upon' the evidence that it was caused by the walk. There is certainly some evidence to sustain this finding of the jury, and their finding is therefore conclusive upon this point. Admitting that the walk caused ' the miscarriage and sickness of the plaintiff Mrs. Brown, it is-insisted by the learned counsel for the appellant, that the appellant is not liable for such injury; that it is too remote to be the subject of an action; that the negligence and carelessness of the defendant’s employees in putting the plaintiff's offithe cars at the place they did, was not the proximate cause of the miscarriage and sickness, and for that reason the appellant company is not liable therefor. *

To sustain this position of the learned counsel for the appellant,-reliance is placed upon the case of Walsh v. Railway Co., 43 Wis., 23, and it is insisted that there can be no real distinction made between .that case and this. Upon a careful examination of that case, it will he seen, we think, that the court did distinguish between an action which was purely an action for a breach of contract, and one in tort.

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Bluebook (online)
11 N.W. 356, 54 Wis. 342, 1882 Wisc. LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-chicago-milwaukee-st-paul-railway-co-wis-1882.