Quanah, A. & P. Ry. Co. v. Bone

208 S.W. 709, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 148
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 8, 1919
DocketNo. 1446.
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 208 S.W. 709 (Quanah, A. & P. Ry. Co. v. Bone) 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
Quanah, A. & P. Ry. Co. v. Bone, 208 S.W. 709, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 148 (Tex. Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

BOYCE, J.

Appellant, Fred Bone, had a contract for the erection of a bank building at Matador, Tex. He ordered certain material — brick, lumber, cement, etc. — -and tools for use in the construction of said building, to be shipped to said place. Such shipments would move over the line of the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Railway Company, the appellant, to its junction with the Motley County Railway Company, at Matador Junction, and thence over said last-named road to Matador. The appellant railway company during this time had some dispute with the Motley County Railway Company, and on account thereof refused to deliver some of these shipments to the Motley County Railway Company, but carried them by said Matador Junction to Roaring Springs, from which point appellant was compelled to haul them by wagon. Other shipments were held by the appellant railway company for a longer time th&i it was entitled to hold them under the orders of the Railway Commission, but were finally delivered to the Motley County Railway Company and transported to Matador. Appellee, on account of being unable to get material while it was thus being held, had to lay off or pay some of his workmen employed on the building, and was unable to proceed with the work in a regular and systematic manner. He sued for and recovered in this suit actual damages thus sustained *710 and penalties of $250 each for twelve shipments held by appellant railway company, in alleged violation of law. This is the second appeal of this case. Q., A. & P. Ry. Co. v. Bone, 199 S. W. 332.

[1,2] By the first assignment it is complained that plaintiff was permitted, over objection, to testify that on account of the delay in delivery of material he himself had lost 5 days’ time, worth $15 per day, because there were no allegations of damage that would permit the introduction of such evidence, and because it was not alleged that the defendant had notice of such element of damage. The allegation of general notice to the appellant of the nature of the damages that would be suffered by reason of its wrong'was, we think, sufficient in this respect. Q., A. & P. Ry. Co. v. Bone, 199 S. W. 332. We do not think, however, that this item of damage fairly comes within any element of actual damages claimed in the petition. There are two specifications of actual damages: It was alleged that, on account of the enforced idleness of his em-ployés, plaintiff “paid such employSs an aggregate amount of $787.50” in excess of the amount he would have paid but for the lack of said material. Compensation for plaintiff’s own lost time does not fall within this allegation. The other allegation is to the effect that by reason of lack of proper material plaintiff was prevented from carrying on the work in a systematic and orderly course, and that this resulted in an additional delay of 15 days in the completion of said building, and “that the extra expense caused plaintiff for each one of said 15 days was $31.50 per day.” In connection with the testimony as to plaintiff’s lost time, it appears that plaintiff resided at Amarillo and spent most of his time at that place; that on the occasion when these 5 days were lost he was at Matador, and the work was during such time entirely suspended because the brick were being held by the appellant at Roaring Springs. So that the allegation of the time lost by plaintiff should properly have been in connection with the first element of damages above stated. An analysis of the details of the evidence as to the number of men employed while the work was progressing and the wages paid them shows that the $31.50 per day was not intended to include any allowance for plaintiff’s time; besides, pay for plaintiff’s own time would not, we think, be properly classed as “expense.” This error will not, however, require a reversal of the case if a remittitur in the sum of $75 shall be made by appellee.

[3] By the second assignment appellant complains of the admission of certain evidence which tended to show that one of the oars of lumber owned by plaintiff was wrongfully held by the defendant because the pleading as to such car of lumber was not sufficiently clear to apprise the defendant of what it must-answer. The petition distinctly makes these allegations: That this car of lumber was purchased about August 10, 1914, and was thereafter transported and delivered to defendant at Quanah, consigned to R. D. Jones Humber Company at Matador, and that the defendant refused to deliver the same, but held it for a period of four days at Roaring Springs. This allegation is, we think, sufficient to permit the admission of the evidence. There is no variance between the pleading and the proof. Appellant would probably, on special exception, have been entitled to a more particular statement. This same car of lumber figured in the other trial of the case, and we judicially know from the record in that case that the very evidence which is here complained of was introduced on that trial. Under these circumstances, appellant cannot reasonably claim that it was not apprised of what would be expected to be proven under this allegation.

[4] ,We do not think there was error in the admission of the evidence referred to in the third assignment, to the effect that some time during the summer of 1914, while the appellant railway company and the Motley County Railway Company were having a controversy over freight matters, the appellant railway company placed a derail on the track of the Motley County Railway Company that connected with the tracks of the appellant railway company. This evidence, considered with the other evidence offered in connection therewith, tended to show that the appellant railway company was refusing to deliver any freight shipped to points on the line of the Motley County Railway Company, and that the purpose of the placing of the derail on said track was to prevent the transfer of any cars from one road to the other. It is shown that this controversy was in progress while plantiff’s shipments wpre being made, and the plaintiff’s testimony tended to show that this was the real cause of the failure and refusal on the part of the appellant to deliver his said shipments. The defendant at the trial claimed that the said shipments were taken to Roaring Springs merely in preparation for delivery to the Motley County Railway Company, and not in refusal of delivery to said connecting carrier. The testimony was admissible on the issue thus made and tended to show a universal rule or system of action that contradicted the claim put forth in this case in reference to the handling of these shipments and the controlling motives therein. Western Union Tel. Co. v. Simmons, 93 S. W. 686; Compagnie, etc., v. Victoria Mfg. Co., 107 S. W. 651; Q., A. & P. Ry. Co. v. Bone, 199 S. W. 334, pars. 8 and 9.

[5] We do not think the court was required to give the requested charge referred to *711 in tlie fourth assignment. This, charge was based on the estimate made by plaintiff that the method of construction of the walls, due to lack of proper material when needed, resulted in the loss of from $60 to $70 for extra labor in the brickwork. By such requested instruction the jury were charged that they could not allow a greater sum than $70, on account of this item. This testimony was only an estimate.

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Bluebook (online)
208 S.W. 709, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quanah-a-p-ry-co-v-bone-texapp-1919.