First National Bank v. Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad

20 Ohio St. (N.S.) 259
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided December 15, 1870·Published

Opinion

Scott, J.

If the facts stated in the petition show the defendant to have been guilty of a breach of contract, or derelict in respect to a legal duty, we think the plaintiff’s claim.cannot be resisted on the ground that the contract was made, not with the plaintiff, but with an agent acting in his own name, or that the supposed duty was owing to the agent and not to his principal. The bank had the same right to send the notes in controversy by McElroy as a special agent, [276]*276as it would to have carried them over the same road undei the same circumstances through its president, cashier, or any other officer; and McElroy had the same right to carry the notes for the bank, as for himself, had they been his property. We fully concur with the supreme court of the United States in the case of The New Jersey Steam, Navigation Co. v. The Merchants’ Bank of Boston, 6 Howard, 3M (cited by counsel), where it is said: The cases are numerous in which the general owner has sustained an action of tort against the wrongdoer for injuries to the property while in the hands of the bailee. The above cases [referring to cases previously cited,] show that it may be equally well sustained for a breach of contract entered into between the bailee and a third person. The court look to the substantial parties in interest, with a view to avoid circuity of action, saving, at the same time, to the defendant all the rights belonging to him if the suit had been in the name of the agent.” We may add that our code of civil procedure requires actions generally to be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest; and if the plaintiff’s property was destroyed solely through the negligence of the defendant, and without fault on the pai't of the agent, it is clear that the estate of the latter cannot be held liable for the loss, and the liability, if there be one, rests on the defendant. We think, then, that the case stands on the same grounds and presents precisely the same questions, as though the notes had been the property of McElroy, and he, having survived, had brought this action to recover of the defendant for their loss. Could such action be maintained, under the state of facts shown by the petition ?

In the able and elaborate argument of counsel for plaintiff, the right to recover is based upon two distinct grounds :

1. That the plaintiff’s property being at the time of its destruction where it was lawfully — that is, in the exercise by the plaintiff of a legal right in reference to it — and being, without any fault of the plaintiff, destroyed by the negligence of the defendant, m the management of its own property, a [277]*277right of action accrues for the damage, by virtue of the maxim, sic utere tuo, ut aliemum non Icedas.

2. That the duty which the defendant, as a common carrier of passengers, owed to McElroy to exercise care and skill in transporting him safely, extends to all articles of value which, at the time, he had lawfully in his possession, or about his person, so as to entitle him, or its owner, in case Of injury resulting from a breach of that duty, to recover compensation for the damage done to such property.

As to the first of these propositions, we do not call in question the justice or soundness of the maxim upon which it is supposed to rest. The only doubt is as to its proper application to the present case. Though stated as a distinct ground of the plaintiff’s claim, I do not find it easy to consider, discuss, and apply to the case, the first proposition, without any reference whatever to the second. Eor, it will be observed that this first proposition is not based upon any contract between the parties, between McElroy and the defendant ; nor does it at all rest upon any liability on the part of the defendant as a common carrier of goods or of passengers ; it ignores the fact that McElroy, with the plaintiff’s money about his person, was a passenger being carried on defendant’s ears; and regarding McElroy and the plaintiff merely as portions of the general public, it seeks a recovery on the ground that the defendant negligently so conducted its business in the running of its train of cars as to destroy the plaintiff’s property. Tet it proceeds on the important assumption that the plaintiff’s money was lawfully where it was, at the time when the catastrophe occurred; that is, that McElroy, as a passenger on defendant’s train of cars, had a right to carry the money with him, and, without notice to defendant, to subject it to such perils as might arise from the negligence of defendant’s servants in the management of the train. Had the money not been in the defendant’s car it would not have been subjected to the peril which caused its destruction; and the question whether it was lawfully there, necessarily involves a consideration of the second proposition. Damage resulting from the negligence of another will not [278]*278in all cases constitute a canse of action. Should A. through negligence burn his own house, and with it the property of B., placed therein without the knowledge or consent of A., we apprehend B. could not hold A. liable for the loss. We can not, therefore, ignore the fact, that the carrying of the money in defendant’s car was an essential element in the circumstances occasioning the loss, nor the fact that it was so carried by a person whose only right to be there was in virtue of his character' as a passenger. To ascertain the rights of McElroy as such passenger, and the obligations and liabilities of the defendant as a common carrier, in respect to the property destroyed, necessarily requires a consideration of the second proposition, which bases the right to a recovery on the relation subsisting between McElroy and the defendant, at the time of the loss, and the duties. and obligations which that relation imposed on the defendant.

As we have said, the relation subsisting between McElroy and the defendant was that of passenger and common carrier, and it was in virtue of that relation that plaintiff’s money was brought into defendant’s car, and became exposed to the peril which caused its loss. What, then, was the contract between the defendant, as a common carrier of passengers, and McElroy, and what was the extent of the obligations imposed on the defendant by law, in virtue of that contract ?

Upon well-settled principles the defendant became bound, in consideration of the fare paid by McElroy, to use the highest degree of diligence and care in transporting him to liis place of destination. And this contract for the carriage of his person necessarily included the wearing apparel which accompanied his person, such reasonable sum of money as might be in good faith carried with him for the expenses of the journey, together with all such articles, to a reasonable extent, at least, as are ordinarily carried or worn upon the person for purposes of personal use, convenience, or ornament ; and we agree with counsel for plaintiff that the contract also included the carriage of his baggage delivered to the defendant as such to be carried, to the extent of an ordinary and reasonable wardrobe for one in his station in lifq [279]*279ogether with such articles as are usually found in the para ■ pliernalia of a traveller.”

But the notes for the loss of which this action is brought can neither be regarded as a part of the passenger’s baggage, nor as money intended to defray the expenses of the journey.

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First National Bank v. Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, 20 Ohio St. (N.S.) 259 (Ohio 1870).

20 Ohio St. (N.S.) 259 (First National Bank v. Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.