Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Brown

97 N.E. 145, 178 Ind. 11, 1912 Ind. LEXIS 63
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1912
DocketNo. 21,895
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 97 N.E. 145 (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Brown) 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
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Brown, 97 N.E. 145, 178 Ind. 11, 1912 Ind. LEXIS 63 (Ind. 1912).

Opinions

Myers, J.

This cause went to the jury on the first and third paragraphs of the complaint, the second and fourth having been withdrawn on the trial.

The complaint was originally filed January 4, 1904, and was later amended, and, with the third, filed as an amended complaint October 6, 1906.

The facts of the death of appellee’s decedent April 22, 1903, of appellee’s appointment and qualification as administratrix May 12, 1903, and of appellant being a common carrier, with its line of railroad running through the city of Dunkirk, in Jay county, Indiana, are alleged in each paragraph.

In the first paragraph it is alleged that on or about January 10, 1903, appellee’s decedent, being the owner of certain household furniture, horses and cattle, of the value of $1,000, entered into a written contract with appellant to ship his property from said city of Dunkirk over its line of railroad to the town of Carlisle, in Sullivan county, Indiana, which contract is set out and is in the usual form of bills of lading; [16]*16that appellant owned, operated and used a switch and sidetrack in said city of Dunkirk, on which it placed empty cars for the use of its patrons, and that, pursuant to said contract, defendant furnished decedent a car on said side-track, and directed him to load his said property therein for shipment, and ho loaded the property therein; that defendant negligently, carelessly and with great force and violence, and without any notice to decedent, by means of a locomotive engine and heavily-loaded cars, kicked, shunted, shoved, pulled and dropped said car from said side-track onto its main track, against defendant’s freight-cars and heavily loaded freight-train there standing on defendant’s main track, with such force and violence as to crush, break and demolish said car, into which decedent had loaded his said property, and in which he was at the time ready for transportation, and without notice to him, and without any fault or negligence on his part forced said car by means aforesaid upon and against defendant’s said freight-train on its main track, whereby and by reason of said carelessness and force destroyed decedent’s property to his damage in the sum of $1,000; that defendant immediately after the demolition of the car unloaded the property from the demolished car, and examined the property, and then and there determined the extent of the injury, and made a list of it, which it retained, and immediately thereafter loaded it into another car, and forwarded it to its destination. Demand for $1,000 damages on this paragraph.

The third paragraph alleges that defendant’s railway line extended from Dunkirk to the town of Carlisle, and that on or about January 5, 1903, decedent entered into the written contract set forth in the first paragraph, counting upon it as a contract of carriage of himself, and that while the car was loaded and on the side-track, and after defendant had been notified that the car was loaded and was ready for transportation, and when defendant knew that decedent was in said car and ready to be carried and transported, de[17]*17fendant carelessly, negligently and unnecessarily caused the injury in the manner alleged in the first paragraph, and, in addition, adds that by reason of such unskilfulness, carelessness, negligence and unnecessary force, decedent while in the car, which he had entered for travel, was so struck, bruised, crippled, maimed and permanently injured that he sickened and died April 22, 1903; that by reason of such injury, decedent was made to suffer in body and mind, and •was thereafter during his life rendered incapable of performing any labor, and was put to great expense in medical attendance, nursing and medicine, and his estate put to great expense on account of his death, and has been damaged thereby in the sum of $10,000; that he was fifty-three years old, and left surviving him his wife, a son sixteen years old, and a son — years old, and demand is made for $20,000 damages.

To each of these paragraphs a demurrer was addressed on account of insufficient facts, and that several causes had been improperly joined. The demurrers were overruled and appellant excepted.

There was answer in general denial, second an answer to that part of the first paragraph which was to recover for injury to decedent’s stock, horses and cattle, because no claim in writing was filed, as required by the contract, setting out its provisions in that particular.

The third paragraph addressed to the third paragraph of the complaint alleges that the right of action originally declared on was for wilful injury, and that the original complaint is set out therein, and that a new and different cause of action is set up in the third paragraph of the complaint, and is barred by the two-year statute of limitations.

The fourth paragraph addressed to the third paragraph of the complaint sets up the failure within thirty days after the happening of the accident, and the accrual of the alleged damages to file a claim therefor, and relies on a clause in [18]*18the contract providing that no claim for damages which might accrue to him under the contract should be allowed or paid, or used in court by decedent, unless a claim should be filed within five days from the time the damage accrued, on the theory asserted in the answer, that if decedent had any cause of action it was under the contract alone. Demurrers were sustained to the third and fourth paragraphs of answer. On trial and verdict, and over motion for a new trial, judgment was rendered for appellee, from which this appeal is prosecuted, based on alleged errors presented in ruling on the demurrers to the complaint and answers, and overruling appellant’s demurrer to the reply to the second paragraph of appellant’s answer, and overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.

The sufficiency of the first paragraph of the complaint is challenged on the grounds (1) that it seeks to recover for breach of a special contract, and that no breach is alleged, nor compliance or offer to comply with the contract on appellee’s part; (2) that it fails to show any duty or breach of duty necessary to charge actionable negligence; (3) that it is not shown that appellant had received the property for transportation; and (4) that if the paragraph seeks to charge a tort, facts showing actionable negligence are not shown.

1. Taking the second and fourth points first, we think there can be no doubt that the paragraph does not sound in tort, but is for breach of a contract of carriage. It may be that allegations as to the careless or negligent manner in which the car was taken up and the property injured or destroyed were unnecessary, but the complaint clearly seeks to recover for the failure to transport property under a special contract, and these allegations have no force except as characterizing the manner in which carriage failed, though there may be cases where liability arises from negligence, as, for example, negligence in forwarding, or in failing to protect or care for property, or negligence eontrib[19]*19uting to a loss, where the primary cause is due to the act of God.

The facts alleged clearly show that the property had been received for transportation.

A contract for carriage is shown, also the setting of a car with direction to load, its loading, notice that it was loaded and ready to go forward, and its taking up to be put in the train for transportation. Ohio, etc., R. Co. v. Yohe (1875), 51 Ind. 181, 19 Am. Rep. 727; Evansville, etc., R. Co. v.

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Bluebook (online)
97 N.E. 145, 178 Ind. 11, 1912 Ind. LEXIS 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pittsburgh-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-v-brown-ind-1912.