Western Union Telegraph Co v. Speight

Decision Date25 October 1920
Docket NumberNo. 241,241
Citation41 S.Ct. 11,65 L.Ed. 104,254 U.S. 17
PartiesWESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. v. SPEIGHT
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs. Rush Taggart, of New York City, Charles W. Tillett, of Charlotte, N. C., and Francis R. Stark, of New York City, for petitioner.

Mr. Murray Allen, of Raleign, N. C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice HOLMES delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a suit brought in a state court by the respondent against the petitioner, the Telegraph Company, to recover for mental suffering caused by a mistake in delivering a telegraphic message. The message handed to the defendant was 'Father died this morning. Funeral tomorrow, 10:10 a. m.,' and was dated January 24. As delivered to the plaintiff on January 24 it was dated January 23 and thus caused her to fail to attend the funeral which otherwise she would have done. The message was from Greenville, North Carolina, to Rosemary in the same State and was transmitted from Greenville through Richmond, Virginia, and Norfolk, to Roanoke Rapids, the delivery point for Rosemary. This seems to have been the route ordinarily used by the Company for years, and the Company defends on the ground that the message was sent in interstate commerce, and that therefore a suit could not be maintained for mental suffering alone. Southern Express Co. v. Byers, 240 U. S. 612, 36 Sup. Ct. 410, 60 L. Ed. 825, L. R. A. 1917A, 197. The jury found that the message was sent out of North Carolina into Virginia for the purpose of fraudulently evading liability under the law of North Carolina and gave the plaintiff a verdict. The presiding judge then set the verdict aside 'as a matter of law' and ordered a nonsuit. But on appeal the Supreme Court of the State set aside the nonsuit and directed that a judgment be entered on the verdict.

We are of opinion that the judge presiding at the trial was right and that the Supreme Court was wrong. Even if there had been any duty on the part of the Telegraph Company to confine the transmission to North Carolina, it did not do so. The transmission of a message through two states is interstate commerce as a matter of fact. Hanley v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co., 187 U. S. 617, 23 Sup. Ct. 214, 47 L. Ed. 333. The fact must be tested by the actual transaction. Kirmeyer v. Kansas, 236 U. S. 568, 572, 35 Sup. Ct. 419, 59 L. Ed. 721.

As the line was arranged and had been arranged for many years, ever since Roanoke Rapids had been an independent office, Richmond was the...

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    ...in the same State. Hanley v. Kansas City Southern R. Co., 187 U.S. 617, 23 S.Ct. 214, 215, 47 L.Ed. 333; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Speight, 254 U.S. 17, 41 S.Ct. 11, 65 L.Ed. 104; Missouri Pacific R. Co. v. Stroud, 267 U.S. 404, 45 S.Ct. 243, 69 L.Ed. 683. In reaching the opposite conclusio......
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