Hall v. Memphis & Charleston R.

15 F. 57, 1882 U.S. App. LEXIS 2188
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Tennessee
DecidedOctober 2, 1882
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 15 F. 57 (Hall v. Memphis & Charleston R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hall v. Memphis & Charleston R., 15 F. 57, 1882 U.S. App. LEXIS 2188 (W.D. Tenn. 1882).

Opinion

Hammond, J.

It was much argued at the trial and on this motion for a new trial whether, under this declaration, there could be any recovery ex contractu at all, and whether the action did not sound so entirely in damages that the plaintiff could not recover for any mere breach of the contract, irrespective of the question whether the plaintiff had been rightfully or wrongfully ejected from the train. The court was of opinion then, and now is, that this was an -immaterial question, since, under our Code, abolishing all forms of action, a plaintiff may recover by a simple statement- of the facts, be they what they may, if these facts entitle him to recover in any form. Tenn. Code, §§ 2746-2748, 2896, 2975; Jerman v. Stewart, 12 Fed. Rep. 266, 267; Angus v. Dickinson, Meigs, 459; 5 Am. Law Rev. 205, 225. The court, therefore, put the defendant under a stipulation to submit to a verdict for the price of the tickets, not because the ejection of the plaintiff was adjudged wrongful, but because the facts showed that the defendant had refused to carry out its contract, and [60]*60had incurred whatever liability attached for that breach. A verdict and judgment were subsequently directed, under the stipulation, for the plaintiff for the amount he paid for the tickets, which settled the right to recover on the facts, but limited the measure of damages to the price of the tickets. This action of the court assumed that the jury would have found the much-disputed facts in regard to the contract in favor of the plaintiff, and proceeded on the theory that he was entitled to be carried on the expired tickets from Town Creek to Memphis and back, and that the defendant company was guilty of a breach of its contract and liable for refusing to carry him. The ease was treated as if the plaintiff had paid the extra fair demanded, as he did the next day, when he purchased new tickets and proceeded on his journey, and then sued for a refusal to carry him on the original contract.

It is now argued that, this being so, the plaintiff was wrongfully ejected, and the case should have gone to the jury under proper instructions as to the measure of damages. If the defendant company were complaining and demanding a new trial, I should not refuse it; for, clearly, the fact whether it made any contract other than that expressed on the limited tickets was much disputed, and the jury might have found the verdict either way, and the action of the court was wrongful as to the defendant company in depriving it of a jury trial on that question. But the stipulation was put upon the defendant to compel it to submit to a verdict on that question against itself, and disembarrass the case of all other considerations, except the one whether the plaintiff was entitled to recover for putting him off the train anything more than the price of the tickets. The proper direction would have been to find for the plaintiff the amount 'paid for the new tickets and interest, or not, in the discretion of the jury, instead of a direction to find for the defendant company. But I had not then fully made up my mind that the plaintiff was entitled to recover anything ex contractu, and sought to reserve that question by the stipulation. The real question in the case is one of the proper measure of damages. When the court directed a verdict for the defendant corporation, with the stipulation above mentioned, it determined that, the price of the extra tickets was the proper measure of damages, and, taking the subsequent action of the court under the stipulation into view, the case stands in the attitude of a direction by the court, on all the facts, assuming conclusively in favor of the plaintiff that he had a contract entitling him to carriage, that the [61]*61jury should find a verdict for the plaintiff for the price of the extra tickets, and he is entitled to a now trial if under any proper view of the facts or law he could have recovered more.

It is proper to remark that the court laid out of the case all questions of unnecessary force, for, on the plaintiff’s own proof, and paying no attention to the conflict as to what was actually done, as appears by defendant’s proof, he resisted the conductor, and not only provoked, but invited, force to eject him; no doubt under the mistaken view of the law, as he himself expressed it, that “he had a right to vindicate his constitutional and legal rights as a free American citizen;” that it was his duty to do so; and further, that resistance was necessary to secure his right of action against the company. He admits that much, and I do not doubt he felt that he was building up a more substantial claim for large damages by resistance. It is a common mistake, but whore the conductor is acting lawfully, and doing what he has a right to do, the passenger must submit to his authority, and resistance is wholly unlawful. The courts will not, where a passenger is in the wrong, tolerate any nice discriminations about the force necessary to secure submission to the conductor’s lawful authority and overcome the resistance, unless it may be where the conductor departs from the exercise of lawful force, and beats, wounds, or maltreats the resisting passenger in the ill-temper of belligerency, and thereby becomes an aggressor on his own personal account. Even here it would be remembered that the conductor is likewise human; while he should do his duty without xmnecessary violence, and in the best of temper, a resisting passenger cannot expect the courts to erect delicate scales on which to wreigli with exact nicety the force used to overcome his resistance. The conductor is somewhat like the master of a ship. He has police powers and disciplinary control over the train, and the quiet and comfort of the passengers and their safety are under his protection. He should be obeyed by the passengers, and the common notion that force must be invited to secure legal demands against his unlawful exactions is, in my judgment, erroneous and vicious. All the passenger need do is to express his dissent to the demand made upon him, and he need not require force to be exerted to secure his rights, certainly not to increase his damages. I have held in another case that even whore the passenger is right and the conductor wrong, it is contributory negligence to resist him by engaging in an unnecessary trial of strength with superior force. Absolute submission may not be a duty where the conduct of the conductor is wrongful, and resistance does not pre[62]*62elude the right to recover all reasonable damages for the wrong done; but unreasonable resistance should be considered in mitigation of damages; resistance should not, at all events, be allowed to aggravate the damages. Brown v. Memphis & C. R. Co. 7 Fed. Rep. 51, 65.

I fully recognize the feeling of “a free American citizen” in the face of threatened wrong or insult, but the safety of the ship forbids that he should fight with the master, and imperil the ship and the lives and property she carries. Better that he should suffer the wrong than to endanger or discomfort his fellow-passengers. The conductor of a railroad train is not altogether ass supreme, perhaps, as the master of a ship; but on analogous principles, that seem to me obvious, it is, I think, the duty of a passenger to avoid resistance beyond mere dissent, and submit to his authority without more than mere protest, unless resistance is necessary to defend himself against impending personal injury.

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Bluebook (online)
15 F. 57, 1882 U.S. App. LEXIS 2188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hall-v-memphis-charleston-r-tnwd-1882.