White v. Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad

33 N.E. 273, 133 Ind. 480, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 30
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 31, 1893
DocketNo. 16,100
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 33 N.E. 273 (White v. Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad) 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
White v. Evansville & Terre Haute Railroad, 33 N.E. 273, 133 Ind. 480, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 30 (Ind. 1893).

Opinion

McCabe, J.

This was a suit by the appellant, against the appellee, for a wrongful expulsion from the appellee’s train. The Circuit Court sustained a demurrer to the complaint, and the appellee had judgment on demun’er. The ruling on the demurrer is the only error assigned here.

The substance of the complaint is, “ that the appellee is a corporation organized under the laws of this State; that it owned and operated a line of railroad from Evansville to [481]*481Terre Haute in this State, passing through the towns of Sullivan and Earmershurg, in Sullivan county, at which towns appellee owned and maintained a station depot for the usé of the general public, who desired to take passage and leave-trains upon defendant’s said line of railroad, and that appellee was then and there a common carrier of passengers and freight for hire; that on the 5th day of January, 1891, the appellee was the owner and operator of a certain train of cars over said line of railroad, which arrived from the south, at said town of Sullivan at about 2 o’clock p. m., each day, and at the said town of Earmershurg at about — p. m. each day, except Sunday; that for two years immediately prior and up to said 5th day of January, 1891, appellee had habitually carried passengers and freight upon said train of cars for hire, from said town of' Sullivan to said town of Earmershurg, which facts appellant well knew; that on said day the appellant bought of the appellee, through its depot agent, a round-trip ticket from the town of Sullivan to said Earmershurg, and said ticket agent told and directed appellant that he could take passage upon said train of cars; that appellant, with other passengers, entered the hind ear, or caboose, of said train— in which appellee had habitually carried passengers, as aforesaid — under the direction of appellee’s said ticket agent * ** * , in good faith, to take passage upon said train to said town of Earmershurg, and without any knowledge that the appellee would not carry passengers upon said train of cars on said day; that the appellee had no written notice of any kind or character posted up at its depot at said town of Sullivan, stating upon what train or trains passengers would or would not be carried, had given no public notice, or in any way notified the public or the appellant, that passengers would not be carried upon said train of cars; * * * that after the appellant had entered said car with others, and had taken his seat as a passenger in good faith, [482]*482* * and after said train had started to move slowly, ¡appellee’s agents and servants, to wit, the conductor and brakeman, wrongfully and negligently assaulted the appellant, and ejected him from said car, and refused to allow the appellant to take passage upon said train of cars to said town of Earmersburg, all of which was done without any fault or negligence of the appellant.”

There are many other allegations in the complaint, hut they relate to matters occurring after the appellant was ejected from the train, affecting only the measure of damages. It is insisted by the appellant that the theory upon which this complaint is constructed is that the appellant was rightfully in the car as a passenger, entitled to be carried from Sullivan to Earmersburg, and that, in violation of his rights as such passenger, he was wrongfully ejected from said train; while the appellee contends, as we understand the brief, that the complaint is constructed upon the theoi’y that the gist of the action is that unnecessary force and violence was used in ejecting him from the train. The complaint contains some features tending to each of these theories. However, taken altogether, we think the complaint proceeds upon the theory contended for by the appellant, namely, that the injury sought to be redressed is a wrongful expulsion of the appellant from the appellee’s train, in violation of the appellant’s rights as a passenger entitled to be carried to his destination by the appellee as a common carrier; and the sufficiency of the complaint must be tested upon that theory. Tested upon the other theory, there would he no question but that the.complaint would he fatally defective.

The case of Chicago, etc., R. R. Co. v. Bills, 104 Ind. 13, was very much like this in many respects. It was there said by this court, that “¥e have no doubt that the law is, that if a conductor uses unnecessary force in ejecting a passenger, the company is liable, although the conductor may have a right to eject him and to employ reasonable force to expel him from the train. * * * [483]*483While it is true that a conductor may not use unnecessary force to eject a passenger, it is also true that he may employ reasonable force to accomplish that object. The degree of force is.not determined simply by results, for other facts must be taken into consideration,-and chief among such facts is the resistance made by the passenger. It is obvious that a passenger who makes no resistance can not lawfully be treated like one who does resist the commands and efforts of the conductor. Resistance may make great force necessary and reasonable; while acquiescence in the directions of the conductor may render any degree of force unnecessary and unreasonable. 'If words will accomplish the object, force should not he employed. The use of unnecessary force is unlawful. He who constructs a complaint upon the theory that unnecessary force was used in expelling a passenger from a railroad train, proceeds upon the ground that an unlawful act was committed. One who bases his cause of action upon the performance of an unlawful act, must affirmatively show it to be unlawful. The appellee does base his cause of action upon the performance of an unlawful act, and it therefore devolves upon him to show that it was unlawful. Acts can not be shown to he unlawful by epithets; facts alone can have this effect. The result of these principles is that this complaint can not he good upon the theory assumed by the appellee, unless it states such facts as show that the act of the appellee’s conductor was unlawful. In order to show that the act was unlawful, it is essential to state facts showing that unnecessary force was employed in ejecting the appellee from the train. In our opinion no such facts are stated. These are the averments of the complaint upon this point: That the conductor stopped the train and put the plaintiff off the train, beside the road, about one mile from Elwood. And the plaintiff further alleges that he is so afflicted with a disease called hernia that he is compelled to wear a truss, and that, in putting him off the train, the conductor used so [484]*484much force and violence that he broke his truss and rendered it entirely useless; and the conductor also threw him violently to the ground, and greatly bruised and wounded him.’ These allegations do show that force was- used, but they are far from showing that it was unnecessary. Eor anything that appears, the conductor may have used the least possible degree of force necessary to ^expel the appellee from the train. It may be that the resistance of the appellee made necessary all the force that the conductor used. We can not presume that the conductor did an unlawful thing; on the contrary, th'e presumption is that his act was lawful.”

We, therefore, conclude that the complaint in the case at bar was bad, treating it as proceeding upon the theory that the gist of the action was for unnecessary force and violence in the alleged expulsion from the train.

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Bluebook (online)
33 N.E. 273, 133 Ind. 480, 1893 Ind. LEXIS 30, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-evansville-terre-haute-railroad-ind-1893.