Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis Railroad v. Eaton

94 Ind. 474, 1884 Ind. LEXIS 96
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 15, 1884
DocketNo. 10,835
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 94 Ind. 474 (Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis Railroad v. Eaton) 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
Cincinnati, Hamilton & Indianapolis Railroad v. Eaton, 94 Ind. 474, 1884 Ind. LEXIS 96 (Ind. 1884).

Opinion

Niblack, J.

On the afternoon of the 12th day of July, 1881, Mrs. Mary M. Eaton purchased of the proper agent at the Union Depot, at Indianapolis, a ticket-entitling her to transportation over .the railroad belonging to and operated by the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Indianapolis Railroad Company, from that depot to Morehouse, a flag station a few miles east of Indianapolis, and soon thereafter, that is to say, on the same afternoon, entered a train of that company’s cars which stopped regularly at Morehouse when signaled to do so. Her place of ultimate destination was the house of a brother-in-law, named Graham, who lived three miles south -of Morehouse, and she expected Graham to meet her at Morehouse upon her arrival at the place. After leaving Indianapolis the conductor took up her ticket, but, for some unexplained reason, failed to signal the engineer to stop at Morehouse, and in consequence the train did not stop at that station.

When Mrs. Eaton discovered that the train was passing Morehouse without stopping, she appealed to a gentleman sitting near her for assistance, and requested him, if possible, to have the train stopped at the approaching crossing of a dirt road, saying that she would be willing to get off at that place." That gentleman went forward and soon returned with [476]*476a brakeman running on the train, who informed Mrs. Eaton-that the train could not be stopped between stations as she-had requested, but that they, meaning those in charge of the-train, would take her on, free of charge, to Rushville, where-they would meet another train, upon which they could send her back to Morehouse, thus enabling her to reach that place on her return at or near eleven o’clock that night. She declined to be set down at Morehouse at that time of night, and hence rejected the offer to be sent further on and returned in that way. As the train was approaching the next station, which was a small and unimportant station, five miles east of Morehouse, called Julietta, the conductor came to Mrs. Eaton and, taking her satchel, told her that she would have to get off there, where she would find a buggy ready to take her back to Morehouse. When the train stopped at Julietta, she followed the conductor out onto the platform, where he left her in charge of the station agent. After the train had left,, she ascertained, upon inquiry, that no conveyance had been, provided for sending her back to Morehouse, and that no conveyance could be procured for that or any similar purpose, at or near Julietta Station. Wishing, in any event, to proceed directly to the house of Graham, her brother-in-law, which was five miles distant across the country from Julietta,, and not to return immediately to Morehouse, she left the station at which she' had been so left on foot and walked the entire distance to Graham’s house, leaving the former place-perhaps before seven o’clock in the evening, and arriving at. the latter place at nine o’clock at night.

This action was prosecuted by Mrs.-Eaton against the railroad company to recover damages for being carried beyond Morehouse, and being compelled to walk so great a distance-to reach Graham’s house. After evidence had been introduced at the trial at special term, establishing, or tending to establish, the facts herein above stated, the plaintiff offered to prove: First. That the weather was hot and sultry during-the afternoon and evening-of the 12th day of July, 1881„ [477]*477Secondly. That it took her nearly, or quite, three hours to walk from Julietta to Graham’s house. Thirdly. That the road she had to walk over was very dusty. Fourthly. That in walking from Julietta to Graham’s house she had to cross a creek at one place and a bayou at another place. . Fifthly. That in crossing the creek, by the only practical method which the situation afforded, she got her clothing and feet wet, and that in crossing the bayou she had to carry rails and make a temporary walk way, suffering there, also, further, injuries from mud and water. Sixthly. That a part of'the road passed through a dark strip of woods. Seventhly. That she was sick when she arrived at Graham’s house, and so continued for several days immediately thereafter. Eighthly. That her sickness resulted from the labor of walking, supplemented by worry of mind, fright, and the hot weather. Ninthly. That in passing a house on the road to Graham’s house she was attacked and chased by two dogs, and in that way badly frightened. But the court refused to permit the plaintiff to make proof of the facts thus severally proposed to be proven, and the various rulings upon the exclusion of these facts were afterwards assigned as a cause for a new trial.

The trial at special term resulted in a verdict and judgment for the defendant. Upon an appeal to the general term the judgment at special term was reversed, the court holding . that the judge at special term had ruled correctly in excluding the offered evidence as to the plaintiff’s injuries from crossing the creek and bayou, as to her being attacked and chased by dogs, and as to her sickness claimed to have resulted from the incidents of her journey from Julietta to the house of her brother-in-law, but had erred in the* exclusion of all the other items of rejected evidence, and it is from that judgment of reversal that this appeal is prosecuted.

The question as to what may be taken into consideration in the assessment of damages in a case like this is one which has provoked much discussion, and concerning which the text-writers have been unable to formulate any general rule of [478]*478easy application in all cases of the class to which this belongs. As beax-ing on the general subject there are many conflicting decisions, and in some cases sharp differences have been manifested between judges of the same court as to the conclusions-which have been reached by a majority of their number.

A narrower limit is applied in the assessxnent of damages-for a breach of contract, pure and simple, than is prescribed in an action for a tort, and, in our judgment, much of the conflict between decided cases and the individual views of judges, to which we have referred, has resulted from a failure to carefully obsex-ve that distinction between the two-classes of damages. Two of the cases cited by counsel will serve to illustrate our meaning in this respect. One is the case of Hobbs v. London, etc., R. W. Co., 11 Moak Eng. R.181, and the other is Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Barker, 4 Col. 344 (34 Am. R. 89). These cases were both treated as, and decided upon the theory that they were, actions for a breach of contract merely,-when in truth they were both actions for a neglect of duty by a common carx’ierfrom which an injury resulted to a passenger, and hence were, in all their essential featui’es, actions for tortious misconduct on the part of the defendants.

Counsel for the appellant contend for the application of the doctrine of these and other kindred cases to the case at bax’, upon the like theory that it is only an action for the bi’each of a conti’act for transportation, entered into between the pax’ties, arid, consequently, an action in which the nax-rower limit ought to be applied in the assessment of the daxnages.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Estate of Brunson v. White
299 N.E.2d 186 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1973)
Meyers v. Keokuk Electric Co.
190 Iowa 693 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1921)
Mowes v. Robbins
120 N.E. 51 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1918)
Balcom v. City of Independence
178 Iowa 685 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1916)
Louisville & Northern Railway & Lighting Co. v. Comley
183 S.W. 207 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1916)
St. Louis S. F. R. Co. v. Davis
1913 OK 295 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1913)
Woodmen of the World v. Hipp
147 S.W. 316 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1912)
Indiana Union Traction Co. v. Heller
89 N.E. 419 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1909)
Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Scarborough
52 Fla. 425 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1906)
Costello v. St. Louis Transit Co.
96 S.W. 425 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1906)
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Kinsley
60 N.E. 169 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1901)
Coy v. Indianapolis Gas Co.
36 L.R.A. 535 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1897)
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Klitch
2 Ind. App. 290 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1894)
Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Close
32 N.E. 588 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1892)
Indianapolis & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Howerton
26 N.E. 792 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1891)
New York, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Doane
1 L.R.A. 157 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1888)
Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Acres
9 N.E. 453 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
Indianapolis, Peru & Chicago Railway Co. v. Pitzer
6 N.E. 310 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1886)
East Tenn., Va. & Ga. Railroad v. Lockhart
79 Ala. 315 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1885)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 Ind. 474, 1884 Ind. LEXIS 96, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cincinnati-hamilton-indianapolis-railroad-v-eaton-ind-1884.