Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. v. Crews

120 S.W. 1110, 54 Tex. Civ. App. 548, 1909 Tex. App. LEXIS 253
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 24, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 120 S.W. 1110 (Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. v. Crews) 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
Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. v. Crews, 120 S.W. 1110, 54 Tex. Civ. App. 548, 1909 Tex. App. LEXIS 253 (Tex. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinion

RICE, Associate Justice.

—Appellee sued appellant for the recovery of $1825, the alleged value of six mules, two mares and one mule colt, alleged to have been killed or injured by appellant in such manner as to render them of no value, on account of the negligence of appellant, which negligence was alleged to have consisted in the failure on the part of appellant to provide and maintain cattle guards or .stops at the point where its road crossed a certain lane leading into the enclosures on each side thereof.

Appellant answered by general demurrer and general denial. There was a jury trial resulting in a verdict and judgment for appellee in the sum of $1190, from which this appeal is prosecuted.

On the trial appellant, after the conclusion of the evidence, requested the court to peremptorily instruct a verdict in its behalf, and in its first assignment, urges that the court erred in refusing to give said instruction, on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to show that the animals were killed by the railway company. After a careful review of the evidence we are inclined to believe that the charge was properly refused. The animals were found on the right of way, some of them within a few feet of the railway track, at which point the right of way was fenced—some of them were killed outright and others so seriously injured as to render them valueless. While it is true that there was no eye-witness to the killing, nor any evidence showing the recent passage of trains, nor anything to indicate at what point along the track they were struck, such as the signs of blood or of their having been dragged, still, the circumstances are such, it seems to us, as to satisfy any reasonable mind that they were struck and killed by appellant’s locomotive and cars. One of the animals was cut in two, parts of which were found on different sides of the track, and all of them were badly wounded and mangled, leaving the inference that nothing except contact with a locomotive could likely have produced the serious injuries shown. We therefore overrule this assignment.

On the trial plaintiff was asked by his counsel what in his opinion the two brood mares were worth to him, and testified that the bay mare was worth $375 and the sorrel mare $175. Appellant objected to the question and answers on the ground that the same were irrelevant, ' incompetent and immaterial, and did not furnish the proper measure of damages, and because there was no predicate for any measure of damages to said animals other than their market value, and the action of the court in admitting said evidence over appellant’s objection is assigned as error. The allegation in the petition relative to the value of the mares is as follows: “That at the time said mares were so killed they were then and there each respectively of the reasonable value as follows, viz.: One of the mares was of the value of $375? and the other mare was of the value of $175,”

*550 While the evidence perhaps fails to disclose that there was any market value for the animals in that neighborhood at the time they were killed, still the evidence does show what the same were reasonably worth, and they had an intrinsic and real value in contradistinction to what might be termed their market value. Under this allegation, in the absence of an exception thereto, we are inclined to think proof, either of their market value or of their intrinsic value could have been offered.

In the case of Houston & T. C. R. Co. v. Tisdale, 109 S. W., 413, Judge Fisher, in discussing the following allegation, “The cow killed was of the reasonable, intrinsic and market value of $300, and the two that were injured were each of the reasonable and intrinsic market value of $100,” said: “It seems from this that the purpose was to allege the reasonable and also the market value of the animals killed and injured. There was no exception to this pleading, and we are inclined to the opinion that the pleading raised the issue as to both characters of value.”

In vol. 29, 2d ed., Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, p. 575, it is said: “The word ‘value/ when applied without qualification to property of any description, necessarily means the price which it will command in the market. Value is defined as the amount of other commodities, commonly represented by money, for which a thing can be exchanged in open market. The term, however, has two different meanings. .Sometimes it expresses the utility of an object, and sometimes the power of purchasing goods with it. The first may be called value in use, the latter value in exchange.” (See notes to the text.)

From vol. 8, Words & Phrases, 7278-9, we make the following excerpts: “When applied to property and no qualification is expressed or implied, ‘value’ means the price which the property could command in the market.

“By the term ‘value of stock’ is usually meant market value. (Blair & Co. v. Rose, 60 N. E., 10.)

“Text writers use the terms ‘value’ and ‘market value’ as interchangeable and both as being equivalents of actual value, salable value, and, in proper cases, rental value. (Jonas v. Noel, 39 S. W., 724, 36 L. R. A., 862.)”

In Luedde v. Hooper, 66 S. W., 55, in passing upon the meaning of the expression, “The value of property replevied” in our sequestration statutes, the court held that said phrase meant “The market value at the time of the trial.”

“The value of property is what it will sell for within a reasonable time from that in which the ‘value’ is sought to be ascertained. This is held to be a correct definition of the term, at least, so far as it goes, and not erroneous as an instruction when no fuller definition is requested.”

In Martinez v. State, 16 Texas App., 128, it is said: “Value signifies the sum for which the like goods are commonly bought and sold in the market.”

We therefore conclude, both from the allegations and proof in this case, that it was improper to permit appellee to testify what said mares were worth to him, since they had an actual or intrinsic value; *551 and where such is the case plaintiff must be confined in his recovery to proof of actual value, and is not entitled to recover their value to him. But there are authorities other than the ones cited holding that the word “value” does not necessarily mean “market value,” and while we are inclined to believe the weight of authority is in favor of the view here taken, still it may not be improper to suggest that, in view of another trial, this question be eliminated by proper allegations as to the market value of the animals, as well as their real or intrinsic value.

There are cases in which proof may be allowed as to what a thing may be worth to the plaintiff, but the present is not such a case, and that can only be done where no market value or real or intrinsic value is shown. And as it is the object of the law to allow compensation merely for the injury sustained, therefore in the present case it would seem that mares such as the ones in question had a real value, which plaintiff was entitled to recover; hence, it was error to permit him to show that.they had a particular or special value to him, in contradistinction to such real value.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

New Hampshire Fire Insurance Co. v. Plainsman Elevators, Inc.
371 S.W.2d 68 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1963)
Rosenfield v. White
267 S.W.2d 596 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1954)
Prudential Fire Ins. Co. v. Williams
148 S.W.2d 264 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1941)
Pioneer Building & Loan Ass'n v. Compton
138 S.W.2d 884 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1940)
Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. v. Board
118 S.W.2d 996 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1938)
Texas N. O. R. Co. v. Nolen
107 S.W.2d 1116 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1937)
Re Taxes Bishop Est.
33 Haw. 149 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1934)
In re Taxes Estate
33 Haw. 149 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 1934)
Taylor County v. Olds
67 S.W.2d 1102 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)
Chicago Fire & Marine Ins. Co. v. Harkness
58 S.W.2d 171 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1933)
International-Great Northern R. v. Casey
46 S.W.2d 669 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1932)
Anderson v. Frischkorn Real Estate Co.
235 N.W. 894 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1931)
Shell Pipe Line Corp. v. Svrcek
37 S.W.2d 297 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1931)
Foster v. Balderez
32 S.W.2d 875 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1930)
Panhandle & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Jackson
8 S.W.2d 256 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1928)
New Birmingham Development Co. v. B. F. Brooks Const. Co.
292 S.W. 1114 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1926)
James v. Speer
220 P. 535 (Montana Supreme Court, 1923)
Missouri, K. & T. Ry. Co. of Texas v. Moss
135 S.W. 626 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
120 S.W. 1110, 54 Tex. Civ. App. 548, 1909 Tex. App. LEXIS 253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-kansas-texas-railway-co-v-crews-texapp-1909.