Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Scarborough

52 Fla. 425
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 52 Fla. 425 (Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Scarborough) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Scarborough, 52 Fla. 425 (Fla. 1906).

Opinion

Shackleford, C. J.:

This is an action instituted by the defendant in error against the plaintiff in error in the Circuit Court for Marion county, in which damages were sought to be recovered by the plaintiff for his expulsion as a passenger from defendant’s train. The declaration alleges in substance that defendant was possessed of and operating a railroad from Ocala to Anthony in the county of Marion and State of Florida, together with certain trains of cars running thereon for the conveyance of goods and passengers for reward; that the plaintiff at Ocala, on the 16th day of January, 1903, then became a passenger in a certain train of defendant to be carried from Ocala to Anthony for a certain reward paid to the defendant in that behalf, and thereupon it became the duty of defendant to safely transport plaintiff to his destination, but that the defendant by its agents, servants and employes who were conducting and managing such train, at about the hour of two o’clock a. m., before the arrival of the train at Anthony, and at a place distant more than five miles therefrom, wrongfully and with force and arms compelled the plaintiff to leave the train and unlawfully and wrongfully ejected him therefrom, by means whereof the plaintiff was greatly injured, distressed and damaged in mind and feelings, and by means whereof the plaintiff was also compelled to and did in the night walk from the point where he was ejected to Anthony, and was thereby exposed to the cold and inclemency of the weather, which caused him to suffer great pain and anguish of body and mind, and to become sick, lame and disordered; also [430]*430by means of the premises plaintiff was compelled to and did lay out and expend divers large sums of money amounting to flOO.OO in and about endeavoring to be cured of his sickness and was prevented from transacting and attending to his business and affairs and thereby lost divers great gains and profits, which otherwise he would have made and acquired. The plaintiff laid his damages at 82,000.0a.

A motion was filed by defendant for a compulsory amendment of the declaration, which was overruled with the exception of the first ground, and a demurrer was also interposed and overruled. The defendant then filed, the following eight pleas:

“1. That it never promised as the plaintiff hath alleged in and by his declaration.
2. That it is not guilty of the wrong and injury whereof the plaintiff complains.
3. It denies the plaintiff became a passenger in the train of defendant as he hath in and by his declaration alleged.
4. It denies that it became its duty, or that it was its duty, to safely transport and carry the plaintiff from Ocala to Anthony, as plaintiff hath alleged.
5. It denies the plaintiff paid the defendant a certain reward to be carried from Ocala to Anthony as plaintiff hath alleged.
6. It denies the plaintiff was unlawfully and wrongfully ejected from its train of cars, or that it unlawfully and wrongfully refused to permit plaintiff to remain in or upon said train of cars, as the plaintiff hath alleged.
7. It denies the plaintiff was compelled to, in the night time, walk from the point where he was put off said train to Anthony, as he hath alleged.
8. And for a further plea in this behalf this defendant [431]*431says: That upon the occasion mentioned in plaintiff’s declaration, and while said plaintiff was being conveyed on the cars of this defendant, he, the said plaintiff was requested by the conductor of said train, he being the lawful representative of this defendant for that purpose, to deliver to him, the said conductor, the ticket or other writing given by this defendant in its usual course of dealing with the public and with persons seeking transportation as passengers _in its cars and over its line of road to evidence the right of persons to ride on its trains as passengers with fare prepaid, with which reasonable request on the part of said conductor the plaintiff failed to comply after being given every reasonable opportunity so to do, whereupon said conductor demanded of said plaintiff the payment of his fare in cash, for transportation to his point of destination, with which demand the plaintiff also refused or failed to comply, after which the said conductor waited for a reasonable time upon the plaintiff to either produce and deliver to him the said conductor, the ticket or other paper writing, or the cash fare demanded as aforesaid, and upon said plaintiff’s failure to' comply with either demand said conductor requested the plaintiff to leave the train of this defendant, which said plaintiff thereafter did, at the time and place mentioned in this declaration.”

The first plea of non assumpsit, was stricken out upon motion of plaintiff, and issue was joined upon the others.

Trial was had before a jury, which resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $200.00, to review which defendant sued out a writ of error, returnable to the last term of this court, but, for cause shown, the time for filing the transcript was extended to a day within the present term. The defendant assigned seventy-five errors, upon which it relied for a re[432]*432versal. In view of this number, it seems to us that the following language used by Mr. Justice Brewer in Fidelity and Deposit Company v. L. Bucki & Son Lumber Company, 189 U. S. 135, text 138, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 582, is in point: “It may be true, as the Scriptures have it, that ‘in the multitude of Counsellors there is safety/ but it is also true that in a ninltitude of assignments of error there is danger.” Fortuna lely, all of these assignments are not insisted upon before us, and, following the established practice in this court, we shall consider only those which are argued. Hoodless v. Jernigan, 46 Fla. 213, 35 South. Rep. 656.

The first assignment brought to our attention is the seventh, which is based upon the overruling of the seventh ground, of defendant’s motion for a compulsory amendment of the declaration, the first six grounds of such motion being treated as abandonéd because not argued, the motion standing upon the same footing as the overruling of a motion for a new trial, or a motion to quash an indictment, consisting of a number of grounds. McNish v. State, 47 Fla. 69, 36 South. Rep. 176; Schley v. State, 48 Fla. 53, 37 South. Rep. 518. The ground is as follows: That the declaration be required to be amended “by stating whether said plaintiff was on said train as a passenger by being the holder of a ticket purchased.” As is contended by defendant, this motion was made under Section 1043 of the Revised Statutes of 1892, which is as follows: “If any pleading be so framed as to prejudice or embarrass or delay the fair trial of the action, the opposite party may apply to the court to strike out or amend such pleading, and the court shall make such order respecting the same, and also respecting the costs, as it shall see fit.”

In construing Section 1042 of the Revised Statutes of [433]

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Bluebook (online)
52 Fla. 425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seaboard-air-line-railway-v-scarborough-fla-1906.