Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McCormick

100 S.W. 202, 45 Tex. Civ. App. 425, 1907 Tex. App. LEXIS 345
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 6, 1907
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 100 S.W. 202 (Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McCormick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McCormick, 100 S.W. 202, 45 Tex. Civ. App. 425, 1907 Tex. App. LEXIS 345 (Tex. Ct. App. 1907).

Opinion

FLY, Associate Justice.

Appellee instituted this suit to recover of appellant damages for his ejection from a passenger train at Silsbee, Texas. A jury trial resulted in a verdict for appellee for $253.60, of which amount $100 was remitted by appellee and judgment was rendered for $153.60.

Appellee testified that he was, on January 26, 1905, a traveling salesman for the Memphis Coffin Company and was- in Beaumont, Texas, and was instructed by his employer to go from that point to San Augustine, Texas. To that end he asked the ticket agent of appellant for a ticket to that place, as well as a credential slip, and gave him his credential number, which was in a credential book he had purchased from another road. The credential books, it seems, entitle the holders to a rebate on the regular fare. The agent put appellee’s credential number as well as the number of the ticket, which was 851, on the credential envelope and handed it to appellee, who put it in his overcoat pocket and went in the train, and after he got there discovered that the ticket which should have been in the credential envelope was not there. He immediately went to the ticket agent and told him that he had not given him a ticket. The agent insisted that he had and told appellee that he had lost it. The conductor was standing near by and the agent told him, “This *427 gentleman here has lost his ticket, but he has paid me his fare.” Appellee did not know whether the open or shut part of the credential envelope was up or down when the agent handed it to him and when he put it in his overcoat pocket. Appellant did not buy another ticket and did not find the one he had bought and when the conductor demanded a ticket appellee presented the credential envelope to the conductor . who insisted on his paying his fare or delivering a ticket. The conductor went through the train to see if anyone had the ticket, but did not find it. Afterwards the conductor showed appellee a telegram from the railway company which stated, “Have the man pay fare, and send his identification slip and your receipt to Kennan at Galveston for refund,” and told appellee if he would pay fare he would send the papers as directed for a refunding of the amount paid. This appellee refused to do. This was at Silsbee and the conductor then took appellee by the arm and led him off the train. Appellee then got back, paid his fare, and went on to his point of destination. He had sufficient money to pay the fare.

The agent swore that he put ticket 851 in the credential envelope and handed it to appellee, and that about five minutes afterward he returned and stated that he had lost it. That a search was made for the ticket in the waiting room and on the platform. It was not found and appellee stated he intended riding on his credential slip, and the agent told him that the company was not responsible for the loss of the ticket and the conductor would require a ticket of him. The agent said: “I told him to buy another ticket and I would take the matter up with the general passenger agent and have his money refunded.” About a week afterward some person presented the ticket to the agent for refund, and the application was sent to W. S. Keenan, the general passenger agent at Galveston. The money was not refunded to the person who made application for it.

Appellee admitted that he knew that if he did not have a ticket that he would “have contention with the conductor.” He knew that he would have" to present a ticket in order to ride on the train. He stated that the conductor was polite to him and treated him considerately. He used no force except to take appellee by the arm and request him to leave the train.

The rules of appellant required conductors to eject a person from the trains, who refused to produce a proper ticket, or other transportation, or pay fare. Appellee would do neither and he was ejected from the train by the conductor.

The application for refund was presented by one C. L. Herrington, on February 7, 1905, and he stated in his application that he was the original purchaser of ticket 851, that after buying the ticket he concluded to stop off at Silsbee and paid his fare to that place and retained the ticket. He stated that he lived in Floresville, Texas, and that he bought the ticket on January 26, 1905. The money for the ticket was not paid to the applicant, or to anyone else.

The court charged the jury that if appellant’s agent failed to deliver to appellee a ticket that he had purchased, and the conductor was informed by the ticket agent that appellee had paid for a ticket, and appellee was ejected from the train by the conductor, the jury should find *428 in favor of appellee for the amount paid for the ticket; and if they further found that appellee suffered mental distress, embarrassment or humiliation by reason of his ejectment, damages might be recovered.

The case of Railway v. Mackie, 71 Texas, 491, apparently supports the theory upon which the cause was tried in the lower court, but that case has been distinguished in several cases, so as to show that while it may be correct under its peculiar facts, it can not be invoked as" authority in cases like the one now under consideration. The Court of Civil Appeals of the Second District, in the case of Texas & Pac. Ry. v. Arnold, 16 Texas Civ. App., 76, expresses the view that the Mackie case is in effect overruled by the Supreme Court in the case of Ft. Worth & D. C. Ry. v. Daggett, 87 Texas, 322. In the latter case the Mackie case is not mentioned, and we think they are easily distinguishable, and yet there are in the latter case expressions which may be deemed antagonistic to the propositions announced in the older case.

In the case of Russell v. Missouri, K. & T. Ry., 12 Texas Civ. App., 627, it was held that a party could not recover for mental suffering arising from being ejected from a train when he knew at the time he entered the car that the ticket he held would not be honored. The facts were that the plaintiff purchased a ticket at Dallas, Texas, to St. Louis, Missouri, and return. It was stipulated in the ticket that it must be stamped on the back by the agent at the selling point and by the agent at "the point of destination. The court states the case as follows: “In selling the ticket the defendant’s agent at Dallas neglected to officially stamp the ticket upon the back thereof, as required by its terms to give it validity. The ticket was honored on the passage to St. Louis, but Avheii the plaintiff presented it to the agent of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company at St. Louis and proposed to identify himself as the original purchaser, the agent there declined to sign and stamp the ticket, as was required by its terms to give it validity for the return passage. Plaintiff then got upon a Missouri Pacific train to return to Dallas, and was ejected from the train a short distance from St. Louis, on account of not having a valid ticket for his passage, with the consequences practically as alleged in his petition.

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Bluebook (online)
100 S.W. 202, 45 Tex. Civ. App. 425, 1907 Tex. App. LEXIS 345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gulf-colorado-santa-fe-railway-co-v-mccormick-texapp-1907.