Gainesville & Gulf Railroad v. Peck

55 Fla. 402
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 55 Fla. 402 (Gainesville & Gulf Railroad v. Peck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gainesville & Gulf Railroad v. Peck, 55 Fla. 402 (Fla. 1908).

Opinion

Parkhill, J.

—The defendant in error, John B. Peck, hereinafter referred to as the plaintiff, sued the plaintiff in error in the circuit court for Marion county for an injury sustained by the plaintiff by reason o-f the falling of a certain sliding door in the depot or station [405]*405house of the defendant at Fairfield, in Marion county. There was judgment for the plaintiff, and the defendant sued out a writ of error.

On the 7th day of August, 1905, the plaintiff filed his declaration, as. follows: “The plaintiff, by his attorney undersigned, sues the defendant Gainesville and Gulf Railroad Company, a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the state of Florida, which has been summoned in an action at law.

For that whereas, in the county aforesaid, on the 10th day of May, 1905, the defendant was engaged in the business of a common carrier of freight by rail, and operated a railroad in and through the county of Marion, state of Florida, and had and maintained at a place known as Fairfield, in said Marion county, a depot •or station house for the reception of freights to be transported over its said road; that the plaintiff was at the time aforesaid engaged in the business of raising and shipping vegetables to markets, and did ship same over the road of the said defendant, and that the vegetables of the plaintiff, and other persons, was, under the custom and manner of doing business by the said defendant at said Fairfield station, received at the station for the purpose of being marked and directed and shipped to a place of destination, which marking and directing in the case of the plaintiff’s vegetables was done by the plaintiff at the station aforesaid. That on the 10th day of May, 1905, the plaintiff was at the aforesaid station house of the defendant for the purpose of marking and directing packages of vegetables of the said plaintiff to be transported by the defendant to their place of destination; that at the time aforesaid the defendant had in the building used by it as a station house at said Fairfield, and where the vegetables were received and marked and shipped, a sliding or rolling door, which the defendant negligently and carelessly permitted to become, and [406]*406which on the day aforesaid was in an insecure and unsafe condition, so as to be liable, when being operated by being rolled or pushed, in opening it, to fall, and that on the date aforesaid, while the plaintiff was at the station house aforesaid, for the purpose of marking and shipping his vegetables over said road, the defendant, by its agent and servant, attempted to open the said door, and thereupon, by reason of t-he insecure condition in fastenings, the same was thrown from its run way and fell upon and struck the plaintiff and injured the arm, shoulder and body of the plaintiff, thereby causing him great bodily pain and injury and damage, by reason whereof, and by reason of the said injury, the plaintiff was prevented from following his vocation, and doing manual labor for a great length of time, and was compelled to incur and expend large sums of money in procuring and paying for medical attendance and medicine and assistance, wherefore, plaintiff sues, and claims fifteen thousand dollars damages.”

The declaration was amended by adding, after the word “assistance,” the following: “And the plaintiff alleges that at the time of receiving ’the injuries aforesaid, the plaintiff was exercising reasonable care, and that the injuries complained of happened without fault of the plaintiff, and that by reason of the said injuries the plaintiff then and there received a lasting and permanent injury and hurt, from the effects of which the plaintiff will never during this life fully recover.”

The declaration was further amended so as to allege that the sum of fifty dollars was incurred and expended for medical attendance, medicine and assistance.

The defendant demurred to the declaration as amended, stating six points of law to be argued. The cause coming on to be heard upon demurrer to the. declaration as amended it was “ordered that the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth grounds of the demurrer [407]*407be and the same are overruled,” and “that the third ground of the demurrer be and the same is sustained.” The action of the court in overruling the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth grounds of the demurrer is made the basis of the first assignment of error.

The effect of the ruling of the court was to sustain the demurrer. The third ground of the demurrer was sustained, but that was equivalent to sustaining ¡the demurrer on the third ground. In ruling upon a demurrer, the court either sustains or overrules .the demurrer. Under our statute, either party may object by demurrer to the pleading of the opposite party, on the ground that such pleading does not set forth sufficient ground of action, defense or reply as the case may be. The demurrer is the assertion or declaration by the defendant that the declaration is bad- in substance; and the statute requires a statement of the substantial matters of law intended to be argued. Sections 1441, 1444 general statutes of 1906. The substantial matters or points of law intended to be argued do not constitute the demurrer. They are the grounds or reasons assigned in support of the demurrer or assertion that the declaration is bad in substance. In Terry v. Allen, 132 Ala. 657, 32 S. R. 664, the trial court overruled some of the grounds of demurrer, and sustained others. Upon the plaintiffs failing and refusing to plead over, after some of the grounds of the demurrer interposed to the complaint were sustained, the court rendered judgment for the defendants. McClellan, C. J., speaking for the court, said: “When any ground or assignment of demurrer to a complaint is sustained, a demurrer to that complaint is sustained, and, if plaintiff declines to amend, judgment final must be rendered against him. It is of no consequence that the court may, in terms; overrule one or any number less than the whole of the assignments of demurrer. The sustaining of any assignment is 'as [408]*408each and all its assignments expressly.” The court is not required to specify the particular ground or point of law in his ruling upon a demurrer where several substantial matters of law are stated, though it would be more convenient to the party demurring for him to do so. Johnson v. Smith, 86 N. C. 498.

In the instant case, therefore, the demurrer to the declaration being sustained, it was completely disposed of and eliminated form the case. The plaintiff, thereupon, amended the declaration. The defendant did not demur to this amended declaration, but filed pleas thereto. The demurrer thus ruled upon did not apply to this amended declaration. Smith v. Hearns, vol. 8, part 1, the Jurist, p. 384. If the defendant desired to make a point on the court’s ruling on the first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth grounds of the said demurrer, he should have specifically demurred to this amended declaration setting up those grounds. As this was not done, and the demurrer to the declaration was sustained, the defendant cannot complain. We have however examined the questions presented by these grounds of demurrer, and find the contentions therein made untenable.

Under the second assignment of error it is argued that the court erred in sustaining the motion for compulsory amendment of certain pleas, wherein the plaintiff was charged with being a “trespasser or

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Bluebook (online)
55 Fla. 402, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gainesville-gulf-railroad-v-peck-fla-1908.