Louisville N. R. Co. v. Hamby

93 So. 698, 208 Ala. 75, 1922 Ala. LEXIS 387
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 18, 1922
Docket6 Div. 633.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 93 So. 698 (Louisville N. R. Co. v. Hamby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisville N. R. Co. v. Hamby, 93 So. 698, 208 Ala. 75, 1922 Ala. LEXIS 387 (Ala. 1922).

Opinion

MILLER, J.

This is a suit by J. W. Ham-by to recover 'damages of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company for his alleged wrongful ejection from a passenger train of the defendant. There was a jury and verdict in favor of the plaintiff, judgment thereon by the court, and the defendant appeals.

The cause was submitted to the jury on count A. Demurrers to it were overruled by the court, and this ruling of the court Is assigned as error. This count, among other things, avers that:

“The plaintiff, in company with his minor children, took passage on one of defendant’s trains at Evansville, TncL, intending to come on said train to Birmingham, Ala., plaintiff then and there having in his possession tickets purchased by the plaintiff, and entitling plaintiff and Ms said minor children to passage on the defendant’s said train from Evansville, Ind., to Birmingham, Ala.; that on said date, while plaintiff and Ms said minor children were such passengers on said train, and at a point on said line known as Henderson, Ky., the defendant’s conductor in charge of said train, who was then *76 and there a servant, agent, or employé of the defendant, while acting within the line and scope of his employment by the defendant, <jid wrongfully eject the plaintiff and his said minor children from ¿said train.”

It avers plaintiff and his children entered the train with tickets purchased for passage, and such passengers were wrongfully ejected. The defendant owed plaintiff the duty to properly demand of him to produce and deliver the tickets or to pay the fare before ejecting him from the train, under the averments of this count. L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Johnson, 92 Ala. 204, 9 South. 269, 25 Am. .St. Rep. 35.

.Section 1172 of 10 Corpus 'Juris, p. 731, reads in part:

“A passenger who fails or refuses without a reasonable excuse to pay his fare or produce a ticket when properly demanded becomes a trespasser and may be ejected from the train Olear.”

This count states a good cause of action, and is not subject to the demurrers assigned to it. McGhee v. Reynolds, 117 Ala. 413, 23 South. 08; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Johnson, 92 Ala. 204. 9 South. 269, 25 Am. St. Rep. 35; 10 Corpus Juris, 731, § 1172.

The plaintiff purchased and paid for four tickets—two whole tickets and two half tickets—for himself and children from Chicago to Birmingham. These tickets entitled them to transportation over the Illinois Central Railroad from Chicago to Evansville, and from there to Birmingham over the lines of the defendant. He bad with him six children, ranging in ages from 13 years to 18 months. When they reached Evansville • they changed from tile Illinois Central to the Louisville & Nashville train. When they went on the Louisville & Nashville train a flagman of the defendant, as was his duty, called out, “Show your tickets,” so passengers would be sure to get on the right train. The plaintiff handed his four tickets to the flagman; there was evidence by the flagman that he returned them to the plaintiff; and a little later the flagman directed all passengers to move from that coach into another coach, which they did. There was evidence tending to show that the four tickets were lost or misplaced by plaintiff or stolen by some one, or never returned to plaintiff by the flagman. The plaintiff’s pocketbook and money were lost or stolen. This car from which they moved remained in Evansville. The conductor called on plaintiff for the tickets; plaintiff could not find them, or his pocketbook, money, or checks; the flagman told the conductor he had'seen the tickets, and knew plaintiff did have them when he got on the train. This was before plaintiff and his children were required to leave the train at Henderson by the conductor. The plaintiff and conductor were talking on the train. The conductor stated to plaintiff, as testified' to by plaintiff:

“If you don’t make a showing for 'the tickets you have to get off at the next station, and. go back to Evansville and look for your tickets.”

At this time some remarks were made by other men on the train. They said: “The conductor says you may get off at Henderson.” Over objection of defendant this question was then asked plaintiff, and this answer given by him to it:

“What did the conductor say to the other men? A. The conductor says I haven’t got time to fool with him here.”

This was a spontaneous statement made by the conductor to others in the presence of plaintiff while in conversation with plaintiff on the. res gestse of the case. It shed light on the motive and attitude of the conductor on the subject of time to find the tickets or to make showing for the tickets. The question called for the statement of the conductor to the other men, and not their statement. Its admission was not error. Ala. City, G. & A. Ry. Co. v. Samples, 109 Ala. 372, headnote 8, 53 South. 142; 22 Corpus Juris, § 559, p. 470’, note 16.

The plaintiff testified the conductor said:

“This is the stop I want him to get off; he can get off here and go back. I will give him a pass back to Henderson.”

The plaintiff testified:

“I says to the conductor, ‘If you give me a few minutes I think I can get up the money to pay my way on.’ I says, ‘I will give good security, as soon as I get to Birmingham, for the money,, and send it to any one who will pay my fare from here on.’ The conductor replied, T can’t wait. You can make that arrangement at Evansville.’ ”

The evidence tended to show as plaintiff then walked from his seat to the door to get off between $9 and $10 were handed him by different men.

The conductor testified:

“I had the discretion of allowing whatever time I thought was necessary. He did not make any request for any extra time; absolutely no use. He did not ask me to let him have a few minutes in which to raise the money—there is not a bit of truth in that. Nothing like that occurred. He told me it was useless to look further.”

The conductor on cross-examination was permitted by the court to be asked by the plaintiff whether or not he put the plaintiff and his children off the train after about one-fourth of his fare had been raised. Two of the questions were as follows:

“Is it a fact, Mr. Moody, that Mr. Hamby raised about $10 right then and there while he and the children were in the act of being put off the train?”
“Didn’t you put the man off the train with *77 the little children when the passengers and Mr. Hamby were raising the fare, after he raised one-fourth of the fare to take him from there to Birmingham?”

The objections to these questions were the general grounds. There was no objection assigned because from “there to Birmingham” meant from Henderson to Birmingham, when it was plaintiff’s duty to pay the fare from Evansville where he and the children boarded the train, to Birmingham. Then the words “to take him from there'to Birmingham” could mean from Evansville to Birmingham. It was the duty of plaintiff to furnish ticket or pay the fare from Evansville to Birmingham.. Manning v. L. & N. R. R. Co., 95 Ala.

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Related

Louisville N. R. Co. v. Crick
117 So. 167 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1928)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 So. 698, 208 Ala. 75, 1922 Ala. LEXIS 387, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisville-n-r-co-v-hamby-ala-1922.