Memphis & Cincinnati Packet Co. v. Pikey

40 N.E. 527, 142 Ind. 304, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 172
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 25, 1895
DocketNo. 16,970
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 40 N.E. 527 (Memphis & Cincinnati Packet Co. v. Pikey) 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
Memphis & Cincinnati Packet Co. v. Pikey, 40 N.E. 527, 142 Ind. 304, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 172 (Ind. 1895).

Opinion

Monks, J.

This action was brought in Dearborn Circuit Court by the appellee, a foreign administratrix, against appellant, a foreign corporation, to recover damages for the death of Charles Pikey, under section 284, R. S. 1881, section 285, R. S. 1894, which is as follows : ‘ When the death of one is caused by the wrongful act or omission of another, the personal representatives of the former may maintain an action therefor against the latter, if the former might have maintained an action, had he lived, against the latter for an injury for the same act or omission. The action must he commenced within two years. The damages cannot exceed ten thousand dollars, and must inure to the exclusive benefit of the widow and children, if any, or next of kin, to be distributed in the same manner as personal property of the deceased. ”

The case was tried upon the first, third and fifth paragraphs of complaint; the other paragraphs were either [306]*306abandoned, at the trial, or demurrers to the same were sustained.

The three paragraphs mentioned each charge in different ways, that the appellant is a foreign corporation and was the owner of a line of steamboats, navigating the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from the city and port of Cincinnati, Ohio, to the city and port of Memphis, Tennessee; which boats were managed and run by appellant for the shipping, transportation and carrying of passengers and freight as common carriers for compensation and hire to and from said cities and to and from all intermediate cities, towns, wharves, and landings upon said rivers; that on the 23d of February, 1892, and long before that time and up to the commencement of this action, the wharfboat at Aurora and the wharf-boat at Lawrenceburg, in Dearborn county, Indiana, were wharfboats upon which appellant discharged and received freight and passengers, carried for hire to and from said ports, and the said wharfmasters received and delivered freight for said appellant during all of said time; and that the appellant, by her clerks and captains of the several boats aforesaid, received and delivered freight and passengers at Aurora and Lawrence-burg in Dearborn county, Indiana; that one of the boats so operated by appellant was the “John K. Speed,” and that while said steamboat was making a return trip from said city of Memphis to said city of Cincinnati, being then and. there owned and operated by appellant, Charles Pikey, appellee’s intestate, on February 23, 1892, took passage on said steamboat at the town of Point Pleasant in the State of Missouri, for said city of Cincinnati, and for said purpose purchased from appellant a ticket, in consideration of which the appellant agreed to safely convey said Pikey from said point in Missouri to said city of Cincinnati; that on [307]*307-day-, while said boat was proceeding on its way to Cincinnati and when said steamboat “John K. Speed” was at a point on the Ohio river opposite the county of Dearborn, State of Indiana, which point is also opposite the county of Boone in the State of Kentucky, and while said Pikey was still a passenger on said boat, he was shot and mortally wounded by the second mate on said boat, from which wound he died in Dearborn county, Indiana, on the next day; that the -death of said Pikey was caused by the negligence and carelessness of appellant, as alleged in the several paragraphs, and that said Pikey and the appellee were each wholly without fault and in no way contributed to the said injury or death in any way; that said Pikey left surviving him a widow and two children; that he was a citizen and resident of New Madrid county, Missouri; that appellee was duly appointed, by the probate court of said county, administratrix of his estate.

Appellant entered a special appearance and filed a motion supported by affidavits, to set aside the service of summons, which was overruled. The court, on the motion and affidavit of appellant, required appellee to file an undertaking for costs, which was approved. Thereupon appellant filed a special answer as to the jurisdiction of the court over the person of appellant, to which a demurrer was filed and sustained. Appellant filed a demurrer to each paragraph of complaint which was overruled as to the first, third, ’ fifth, and sixth paragraphs and sustained as to the other paragraphs. Answer in four paragraphs was filed, the fourth paragraph being a general denial, a demurrer was filed and sustained to -the first, second, and third paragraphs of answer, to all of which rulings proper exceptions were taken. The cause was tried by a jury and a verdict [308]*308returned for appellee, and, over a motion for a new trial, judgment was rendered against appellant.

Appellant assigns as error:

1. That the court had no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant.

2. The court had no jurisdiction of the subject-matter of the action.

3. The court erred in overruling appellant’s motion to set aside the service of summons.

4. The court erred in sustaining the demurrer to appellant’s plea to the jurisdiction of the court.

5. That the court erred in overruling the demurrer to each of paragraphs one, three, five and six of the complaint.

6. That the court erred in sustaining the demurrer to each of paragraphs one, two and three of the answer.

7. That the court erred in overruling the motion for new trial.

Appellant contends that the court below had no jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the action for this reason, that the injury was inflicted outside of the territorial limits of the State of Indiana, and within the State of Kentucky; that, therefore, section 284 (285), supra, has no application in this case ; that the right of action, if any, must depend upon the laws of Kentucky and not upon the laws of this State. The theory of the defense is that this State has no jurisdiction over the Ohio river beyond low water mark on the Indiana side of the river. It is settled that low-water mark on this side of the Ohio river is the boundary line between this State and Kentucky. Handly’s Lessee v. Anthony, 5 Wheat. 374; Indiana v. Kentucky, 136 U. S. 479; Carlisle v. State, 32 Ind. 55 ; McFall v. Commonwealth, 2 Met. (Ky.) 394.

It is provided, however, by an act of the common[309]*309wealth of Virginia, entitled “An act concerning the erection of the district of Kentucky into an independent State (passed December 18, 1789,), that the use and navigation of the Ohio river, so far as the territory of the proposed State or the territory which shall remain within the limits of this commonwealth lies therein, shall remain free and common to the citizens of the United States; and the respective jurisdiction of this •commonwealth and of the proposed State, on the river as aforesaid, shall he concurrent only with the States which may possess the opposite shores of said river.” Revised Laws of Virginia, Vol. 1, p. 59; 1 G. & H. p. 57; 3 R. S. 1894, p. 886.

In Handly’s Lessee v. Anthony, supra, the supreme court of the United States referring to this act, by Marshal, Chief Justice, said that ‘ ‘ The compact with Virginia under which Kentucky became a State, stipulates that the navigation of and jurisdiction over the (Ohio) river shall be concurrent between the new States * which may possess the opposite shores of the said river.”

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Bluebook (online)
40 N.E. 527, 142 Ind. 304, 1895 Ind. LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/memphis-cincinnati-packet-co-v-pikey-ind-1895.