Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Fix

88 Ind. 381
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1882
DocketNo. 9431
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 88 Ind. 381 (Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Fix) 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
Lake Erie & Western Railway Co. v. Fix, 88 Ind. 381 (Ind. 1882).

Opinions

Elliott, J.

— This action was instituted by the appellee to recover damages for the wrongful act of the appellant’s servants in ejecting him from one of its passenger trains. The answers struck out on motion and to which demurrers were sustained, would not have entitled the appellant to any benefit not secured by the general denial pleaded, and if there was any error in these rulings it was a harmless one.

The court refused to propound to the jury interrogatories asked by appellant. Appellee contends that no question is saved upon this ruling, for the reason that time was not given in which to reduce the exception to writing. This contention can not prevail. The bill of exceptions was filed during the term at which the ruling wa's made, and the presumption is that time was granted to reduce the exception to writing, [383]*383and that it was put in writing within the time limited. Time must be granted within which to reduce exceptions to writing,, but where the bill is filed during the term it will be presumed that time was given when the exception was taken. Volger v. Sidener, 86 Ind. 545; Pitzer v. Indianapolis, etc., R. W. Co., 80 Ind. 569.

The request to propound interrogatories is in these words r The defendant.requests the court to instruct the jury to find specially upon the following particular questions of fact,” and the appellee insists that the court was justified in denying this prayer, for the reason that the defendant was entitled to have answers to interrogatories only, in case the jury should return a general verdict. It is tone of instructions generally that it is not error to refuse them unless it is proper to give them in the terms prayed. Lawrenceburgh, etc., R. R. Co. v. Montgomery, 7 Ind. 474.

The question here is whether the instruction prayed as to the interrogatories falls within the general rule that it is not error to refuse them unless they ought to be given as prayed. The code requires that interrogatories shall be answered only in cases where a general verdict is returned, and the decisions hold that it is not error to refuse them unless they are asked in accordance with the provision of the statute, thus bringing instructions upon this subject within the general rule. In Bird v. Lanius, 7 Ind. 615, it was said : “All that we decide is, that a party can not require special interrogatories to be answered, except on condition that the jury shall elect to return a general verdict. The request made by the defendants was unqualified, and was therefore properly refused.” This doctrine has been frequently approved. Board, etc., v. Kromer, 8 Ind. 446; Adams v. Holmes, 48 Ind. 299; Hopkins v. Stanley, 43 Ind. 553; Killian v. Eigenmann, 57 Ind. 480; Hodgson v. Jeffries, 52 Ind. 334; Ogle v. Dill, 61 Ind. 438, vide p. 443.

The controlling questions in the case arise on the evidence; that given on the part of the appellee fully establishes these facts: On the 5th day of May, 1880, the appellee bought of [384]*384appellant’s agent, at its station of Ambia, a round trip ticket, entitling him to a passage to tlie station of Boswell and back to that of Ambia; the appellee entered appellant’s train; shortly afterwards a man came along, asked for the ticket; it was handed him, he tore it in two, kept one part, and handed back another part; appellee did not notice what part' was handed back to him; about eleven o’clock, of the same night, he entered appellant’s train to return to Ambia; handed the the conductor the part of the ticket which he had received from the man on the other train; the conductor refused to accept the ticket, and, notwithstanding the explanation of appellee, and against his remonstrances, ejected him from the train. The man who took and tore up the ticket was not the' regular conductor, but was a brakeman in charge of the train instead of the conductor, who was concealed on the engine, in order to prevent'arrest upon a warrant held against him by a constable in Ambia; the brakeman in charge of the train testified that he supposed that one-half of the ticket was good for a ride either way; the behavior and appearance of the appellee were orderly and genteel.

This evidence, and it was not materially contradicted, made a case for the appellee. It showed that he had purchased a ticket entitling him to be transported from Ambia to Boswell and back; and that if there was any wrong in improperly separating the parts of the ticket the wrong was that of the company’s agent, and not that of the passenger. One who acts in good faith ought not to be deprived of his rights through the’ fault of the servant of the carrier who has undertaken to .carry him safely. It is the duty of carriers to provide agents and servants who can, and will, properly protect the interests of passengers, and not by want of skill, lack of knowledge, or want of care, take from passengers rights for which they have contracted and paid. In Pittsburg, etc., R. W. Co. v. Hennigh, 39 Ind. 509, the passenger gave to the conductor his ticketfrom Chicago to New Castle; no check was given him; there was a change of conductors between the two points, and the last [385]*385■conductor ejected him because he had no check, and it was held that an action would lie. The facts in the case of Toledo, etc., R. W. Co. v. McDonough, 53 Ind. 289, were, substantially, these: A passenger purchased a ticket entitling him to ride to Fort Wayne; he entered a car attached to a freight train ; the conductor of this train took up his ticket, gave him an ordinary conductor’s check, showing that he was a passenger to the city named above; he desired to get to that city sooner than the freight train would carry him; the conductor advised him to get on the express train at the station of New Haven, and assured him that the check given him would secure a passage to his destination; the passenger, acting on the advice and assurances of the conductor of the freight train, entered the express train; the conductor of that train refused to accept the check, and ejected him from the train, and the plaintiff was held to be entitled to a recovery. In the case of Palmer v. Railroad, 3 S. C. 580 (16 Am. R. 750), the plaintiff purchased a ticket of the defendant’s agent, entitling him to a passage from Charlotte to Augusta, with the privilege of stopping over at Columbia; the ticket contained separate coupons from Charlotte to Columbia, and from Columbia to Augusta; the conductor, between Charlotte and Columbia, took off both coupons and gave the passenger a conductor’s cheek; plaintiff stopped off at Columbia, and on the next day entered another train; the conductor of that train refused to receive the check given him the day before, and ejected him; the court, after a full discussion, held that he was entitled to his action. The principle laid down in Hamilton v. Third Avenue R. R. Co., 53 N. Y. 25, is the same as that acted upon in our own cases. In the case cited a passenger got on a car, paid his fai'e, was transferred to another, the conductor demanded fare, he refused to pay, and it was held that he was entitled to damages for his expulsion from the car. Our cases also find support in the well reasoned case of Burnham v. Grand Trunk R. W. Co., 63 Maine, 298 (18 Am. R. 220).

[386]*386Appellant cites the case of Jeffersonville R. R. Co. v. Rogers,. 28 Ind. 1, but that case affords no support to the theory of counsel.

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88 Ind. 381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lake-erie-western-railway-co-v-fix-ind-1882.