Chandler v. Chicago & Alton Railroad

158 S.W. 35, 251 Mo. 592, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 224
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJune 28, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 158 S.W. 35 (Chandler v. Chicago & Alton Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chandler v. Chicago & Alton Railroad, 158 S.W. 35, 251 Mo. 592, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 224 (Mo. 1913).

Opinions

LAMM, J.

Plaintiff, widow of Albert Chandler, sued defendant railroad and Plolliday (a locomotive •engineer in its employ) in the Audrain Circuit Court on April 1, 1908, for the alleged negligent death of her husband on June 24, 1907, occasioned whilst operating a train of cars. The venue being changed to the Franklin Circuit Court, on a trial a jury gave her a verdict of $5000 against both defendants. From a judgment on that verdict, they, on apt steps and in ■due time, appealed here.

[598]*598Jurisdiction: constitutional Question. [597]*597I. There is well lodged in the record a constitutional question, to.-wit, whether the act to' amend section 2864, Revised 'Statutes 1899, concerning damages, approved April 13, 1905 (Laws 1905, p. 135 — now Sec. 5425, R. S. 1909 — amended, [598]*598Laws 1911, p. 203) is constitutional. True it is, the constitutional question, to-wit, the statutory plan permitting dis- ,. . , „ -, cretion m a jury to allow damages on a sliding scale from $2000 to $10,000, is now at rest (Young v. Railroad, 227 Mo. 307; Burge v. Railroad, 244 Mo. 76); but as the appeal was taken prior to the decision of the Young case and while the constitutional question was open, that fact vested jurisdiction in this court. Here it remains. So the precedents run. Thus: In Gabbert v. Railroad the constitutionality of a constitutional amendment permitting nine concurring jurors to render a verdict was first settled. [171 Mo. 84.] Appeals were pending here at the time the Gabbert case was decided in which our jurisdiction hinged solely on the question. We retained jurisdiction of them. Lee v. Jones, 181 Mo. 1. c. 297, is a sample. Following precedents, we retain jurisdiction of this appeal.

II. Two propositions advanced by appellants are that the petition states no cause of action and that demurrers to the evidence should have been given.

Petition: . No Cause of Action: Suit by Wife Nine Months After Husband’s Death. On the first day of April, 1908, plaintiff sued for the wrongful death of her husband occurring on the 24th day of the prior June, i. e., nine months gone. The statute by virtue of which plaintiff may álone sue provides that the individual or corporation guilty of certain negligent acts resulting in death, as here, shall forfeit and pay as a penalty the sum of not less than $2000 and not exceeding $10,000, which may be sued for and recovered, “first, by the husband or wife of the deceased; or, second, if there be no husband or wife, or he or she fails to sue within six months after such death, then by the minor child or children of the deceased, whether such minor child or children of the deceased [599]*599be the natural born or adopted child or children of the deceased,” etc. The statute goes on to provide third and fourth contingencies in which a father and mother or the survivor of them or an administrator may sue, but they do not concern us.

Though the petition shows that the death of Mr. Chandler occurred nine months before suit brought, yet it is silent on the existence of minor children. However, plaintiff’s proof shows that Mr. Chandler was about thirty years of age and left plaintiff as his. widow and three children — the -latter necessarily minors. Neither does the petition make any averments that would toll the six month statute; for instance, that she had appropriated the cause of action by a timely suit, but had suffered a nonsuit and commenced a new action within one year, thereby cutting the minors out. [R. S. 1909, sec. 5429; Packard v. Railroad, 181 Mo. 1. c. 426 et seq., and cases cited and commented on; McQuade v. Railroad, 200 Mo. 1. c. 157 et seq. See averments in the petition in the McQuade case as to appropriation of the cause of action in time and a dismissal.]

Demurrers, offered below to plaintiff’s evidence, were overruled and on saved exceptions are now pressed. Moreover, appellants insist here that the petition states no cause of action.

As to those grounds, we are of opinion the judgment stands for reversal on either or both. Because:

(a) There are some aiding general rules pertinent to the questions in hand, viz:

jurisdictional Raised at any Time. (1) In the first place, a petition that states no cause of action at all presents a defect in the nature of a jurisdictional one. The fatality of such defect is due to be raised in any court or at any stage of the case. The following are samples from a long line of cases sustaining one, the other or both of those propositions: Childs v. Railroad, 117 Mo. 1. c. 427, and [600]*600cases cited: Lilly v. Menke, 126 Mo. 1. c. 212 et seq., .and cases cited; Hanson v. Neal, 215 Mo. 1. c. 278, and Hudson v. Cahoon, 193 Mo. 1. c. 557 et seq.

statutory Right; .Exclusive. (2) In the second place, when a statute creates .a new right and goes on to prescribe the means of acquiring it, the statutory plan is exclusive and parties are confined to the statutory remedy, “If there would be no general liability for . neglect of the duty imposed, unless by statute, then it (the corporation) could only be held for the statutory liability.” [Per Bliss, J., in Iba v. Railroad, 45 Mo. 1. c. 474.) “It is a general rule of law that where . . . the statute creates a new right and prescribes a remedy, the statutory remedy is exclusive.” [Per Black, J., in City of Clinton v. Henry County, 115 Mo. 1. c. 569.) “Where a right Is created by statute and a remedy for its violation is given by the same statute, that remedy is exclusive unless the statute says otherwise.” [Per Valliant, P. J., in Albers Commission Company v. Spencer, 205 Mo. 1. c. 119.] State ex rel. v. Trust Company, 209 Mo. 1. c. 493; Carlisle v. Railroad, 168 Mo. 1. c. 656; State ex rel. v. Snyder, 139 Mo. 1. c. 554, read likewise.

We are not dealing here with cumulative remedies as where the common law gave one and the statute supplemented that one, or where equity gave one and the statute stepped in and gave another at law, nor with that class of cases where the statute gives a new right and prescribes no remedy at all. Such cases have their own pertinent doctrines, not concerning us at this time.

statutory Must be Pleaded. (b) Attending to the propositions announced in paragraph “a,” they have been consistently and uniformly applied, so far as I am advised, to ruling the precise questions now up for considerafion — questions anything but new. A party suing under the statute referred to must bring himself in his pleading and [601]*601proof strictly within the statutory requirements necessary to confer the right. Otherwise his petition states no cause of action and his proof is insufficient to sustain his judgment. Only such persons can recover (and in such time and in such manner) as the letter of the law prescribes. Only such persons -may sue as the statute permits and they alone can sue. They must sue, too, within the time prescribed by the statute. It must “be conceded that the section reserves to* itself the exclusive power of naming those who could maintain the action and of fixing the time in which each of the enumerated persons could sue.” [Aley v. Railroad, 211 Mo. 1. c. 478; Barker v. Railroad, 91 Mo. 1. c. 94; McNamara v. Slavens, 76 Mo. 329; Coover v. Moore, 31 Mo. 574; Oates v. Railroad, 104 Mo. 1. c. 518; Barron v. Lead and Zinc Co., 172 Mo. 228; Packard v. Railroad, 181 Mo. 421; Hennessy v. Brewing Co., 145 Mo. 1. c.

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Bluebook (online)
158 S.W. 35, 251 Mo. 592, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chandler-v-chicago-alton-railroad-mo-1913.