Carmody v. St. Louis Transit Co.

99 S.W. 495, 122 Mo. App. 338, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 20
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 22, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 99 S.W. 495 (Carmody v. St. Louis Transit Co.) 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
Carmody v. St. Louis Transit Co., 99 S.W. 495, 122 Mo. App. 338, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 20 (Mo. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

BLAND, P. J.

(after stating the facts). — 1. Defendant offered an instruction in the nature of a demur[346]*346rer to plaintiff’s evidence.' The refusal of the court to grant this instruction as to the cause of action stated in the second count of the petition is assigned as error. By-reference to the second count it will be seen the cause of action therein stated is, in substance, that defendant’s servants and agents unlawfully, falsely and maliciously caused plaintiff to be arrested by a police officer. Plaintiff’s evidence tends to show the arrest was made on the request of Calhoun, and the evidence is that Calhoun was a road officer of the eastern division of defendant’s system of roads. What his duties were as such road officer is not shown by any direct evidence in the case; however, Rodgers, the conductor of the ear, testified that Calhoun was his superior officer and had the right to take charge of his car at any point on the road; and it is shown by plaintiff’s evidence that Calhoun not only directed the ejection of plaintiff, but also requested his arrest. Calhoun, according to the evidence of Rogers, was his superior officer in the management of the car and acted, on the occasion, as the conductor’s superior, in regard to having plaintiff put off the car and arrested.

In Dwyer v. St. Louis Transit Company, 108 Mo. App. 152, and Boden v. St. Louis Transit Company, Ib. 696, it was held that the conductor of a street car has the authority to order the arrest of a passenger on the car, who refuses to pay his fare, or for other statutory causes. It necessarily follows that Calhoun, as the superior of the conductor, had the same authority. We think, therefore, the court did not err in refusing to grant the instruction as to either count of the petition.

2. The second error assigned is the giving of the following instruction for plaintiff:

“2. If the jury find from the evidence in this case, that on the eighteenth day of May, 1901, the defendant was operating the railway and car mentioned in the evidence for the purpose of conveying passengers, for hire [347]*347as a street railway company; and if the jury further find from the evidence that on said day the defendant, by its servants in charge of its car bound south on Broadway, in the city of St. Louis, received the plaintiff as a passenger upon said car, to be carried as a passenger thereon to his destination on defendant’s line, to-wit, at or near Pestalozzi street; and if the jury find from the evidence that the plaintiff had paid his fare, as such passenger, and had a transfer ticket entitling him to ride as a passenger upon defendant’s said car to his said point of destination; and if the jury further find from the evidence that whilst the plaintiff was such passenger on said car, and before he reached his said destination as such passenger, defendant’s servants in charge of said car, whilst acting as such, and whilst in the line of their employment as such, assaulted the plaintiff and did threaten, menace and abuse the plaintiff, and did threaten and put the plaintiff in peril of his life and of great bodily harm, and did compel the plaintiff to leave said car as such passenger; and if the jury find from the evidence that said acts by defendant’s servants subjected the plaintiff to pain, humiliation and disgrace; then the plaintiff is entitled to recover therefor such damages as the jury may believe from the evidence will compensate the plaintiff for such pain, humiliation and disgrace so suffered. And if the jury find from the evidence that such acts were done by defendant’s said servants, willfully and without legal justification or excuse or provocation, then the jury should further assess damages against the defendant in such sum as the jury may believe from the evidence will be a suitable punishment to defendant for such wrongful acts. And such damages should be separately stated in the verdict.”

Defendant contends the instruction is erroneous in that it “directs the jury that if the alleged acts subjected, that is, exposed or laid the plaintiff liable to [348]*348pain, then the jury must give snch damages as will compensate the plaintiff for such pain, etc., so suffered. This assumes that the plaintiff did suffer pain, etc., if the acts of the defendant subjected, that is, exposed or laid him liable thereto. . It did not submit to the jury the question to be passed upon as a matter of fact or whether the plaintiff did suffer any pain, etc., or not.” The instruction is not open to this criticism. By'the sixth clause thereof the jury were directed to assess “such damages as the jury may believe from the evidence will compensate the plaintiff for such pain,” etc. The use of the words, “subjected the plaintiff to pain,” etc., is criticised as assuming that plaintiff suffered pain, etc. As used in the instruction the term means, to undergo, and could not, in the connection in which it is used, have been understood by the jury in any other sense. It is also claimed the instruction is erroneous, in that plaintiff was not threatened, not put in peril of life or limb, and was not ejected from the car. The uncontradicted evidence is that plaintiff was forcibly removed' from a seat near the front end of the car and out of the body of the car on to the back platform, by defendant’s agents and employees; and plaintiff’s evidence tends to show Calhoun raised the controller handle over his head in a threatening manner, hence there was more than a mere technical assault. There was an actual assault, coupled with a threat to do plaintiff great bodily harm, and an actual ejection from the body or inside of the car. This transaction constituted one cause of action. Plaintiff’s arrest followed this transaction and constituted another and different cause of action and, if made maliciously and without probable cause, was in itself a tort, wholly independent of the assault and ejection from the car, and furnished plaintiff another and separate cause of action, and there is no merit in the contention that the evidence shows but one cause of action. It is also contended that the instruction is erroneous in [349]*349directing the jury to award punitive damages if they found the assault'and ejection willful, “without legal justification or excuse or provocation.” It is not every wrong that authorizes the awarding of punitive damages. Such damages are only authorized where the tort complained of is characterized by express malice, violence, oppression or wanton recklessness. [Kennedy v. Railroad, 36 Mo. 350; Buckley v. Knapp, 48 Mo. 152; Carson v. Smith, 133 Mo. 1. c. 617, 34 S. W. 855, and cases cited.] Such damages are not allowed solely as so much additional compensation, but are allowed, principally, as punishment of the wrongdoer and to deter others from committing like torts. [2 Sutherland on Damages (3 Ed.), sec. 401.] They are, therefore, not allowed as a matter of legal right and their allowance should always be left to the discretion of the jury. [Nicholson v. Rogers, 129 Mo. 136; Carson v. Smith, supra; Sutherland on Damages (3 Ed.), sec. 403.] Therefore, it was error to instruct the jury they “should” find exemplary damages. It is also contended that the instruction is erroneous in that it admits damages for pain, humiliation and disgrace without the same being connected in any manner with a physical injury.

In Spohn v. Railway, 116 Mo. 617, 22 S. W. 690, the plaintiff was frightened by defendant’s servants in charge of the train and other persons thereon, and jumped from the train while it was in motion.

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Bluebook (online)
99 S.W. 495, 122 Mo. App. 338, 1907 Mo. App. LEXIS 20, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carmody-v-st-louis-transit-co-moctapp-1907.