Ward v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Ward v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

37 S.E.2d 123, 226 N.C. 175, 1946 N.C. LEXIS 407

DecidedMarch 6, 1946

StatusPublished

This text of 37 S.E.2d 123 (Ward v. Western Union Telegraph Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Ward v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 37 S.E.2d 123, 226 N.C. 175, 1946 N.C. LEXIS 407 (N.C. 1946).

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Opinion

Schenck, J.

If it be conceded, without being decided, that the communication involved in this action was to have been addressed to the fifteen-year-old son of the plaintiff, or to someone in his behalf in Tallahassee, Florida, the communication would have been an interstate message, and therefore governed by the Federal decisions. Hardie v. Telegraph Co., 190 N. C., 45, 128 S. E., 500, and cases there cited. There could have been no recovery for mental anguish. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Brown, 234 U. S., 542, 58 L. Ed., 1457; Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Speight, 254 U. S., 17, 65 L. Ed., 105; Hardie v. Western Union Telegraph Co., supra; nor could there have been any recovery of punitive damages, Aldrich v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 66 Fed. (2d), 26; nor any recovery of a State statutory penalty, Boegli v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 251 U. S., 315.

Since the defendant tendered judgment for $6.12, the total amount shown by the evidence to have been expended by the plaintiff, and the costs then accrued, and since there are no other damages prayed for except that due to mental anguish and that sought by way of punitive measures, and of recovery of penalty under State statute, there was no error in his Honor’s intimation that he would charge the jury that the plaintiff could not in effect recover any damage other than the $6.12, and accrued costs, for which judgment was tendered by defendant.

For the reasons given the judgment below must be affirmed, and it is so ordered.

Affirmed.

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Schenck, J.

If it be conceded, without being decided, that the communication involved in this action was to have been addressed to the fifteen-year-old son of the plaintiff, or to someone in his behalf in Tallahassee, Florida, the communication would have been an interstate message, and therefore governed by the Federal decisions. Hardie v. Telegraph Co., 190 N. C., 45, 128 S. E., 500, and cases there cited. There could have been no recovery for mental anguish. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Brown, 234 U. S., 542, 58 L. Ed., 1457; Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Speight, 254 U. S., 17, 65 L. Ed., 105; Hardie v. Western Union Telegraph Co., supra; nor could there have been any recovery of punitive damages, Aldrich v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 66 Fed. (2d), 26; nor any recovery of a State statutory penalty, Boegli v. Western Union Telegraph Co., 251 U. S., 315.

Since the defendant tendered judgment for $6.12, the total amount shown by the evidence to have been expended by the plaintiff, and the costs then accrued, and since there are no other damages prayed for except that due to mental anguish and that sought by way of punitive measures, and of recovery of penalty under State statute, there was no error in his Honor’s intimation that he would charge the jury that the plaintiff could not in effect recover any damage other than the $6.12, and accrued costs, for which judgment was tendered by defendant.

For the reasons given the judgment below must be affirmed, and it is so ordered.

Affirmed.

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37 S.E.2d 123, 226 N.C. 175, 1946 N.C. LEXIS 407, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ward-v-western-union-telegraph-co-nc-1946.

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