Alabama Great Southern R. Co. v. Arrington
| Decision Date | 06 June 1911 |
| Citation | 56 So. 78,1 Ala.App. 385 |
| Parties | ALABAMA GREAT SOUTHERN R. CO. v. ARRINGTON. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, De Kalb County; W. W. Haralson, Judge.
Action by Rebecca Arrington against the Alabama Great Southern Railroad Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Goodhue & Blackwood, for appellant.
Howard & Hunt, for appellee.
This suit was instituted in the court below by appellee to recover damages from appellant, alleging as a cause of action that appellee purchased a ticket from appellant entitling her to ride as a passenger on its railroad from Attalla to Porterville, and when the train reached Collinsville, before arriving at Porterville, she was told by the conducter she had reached her destination and was put off, the conducter assisting her and her children to alight from the train; that her husband was to meet her at Porterville to carry her by private conveyance to her home some miles distant from the station; that she did not know she was being put off at the wrong station by the conducter until the train had left the station, and she was forced to spend the night, with her children, one of them a baby, at Collinsville, where she was a stranger, and was put to the expense of hotel and telephone bills, and did not reach home until the afternoon of the following day, suffering inconvenience, mental anguish, etc.
The first count of the complaint sets up simple negligence upon the part of the defendant's conductor, and the third count alleges willful, wanton, or intentional negligence. The general charge for defendant was given as to the second count of the complaint. The case was submitted to the jury on pleas of the general issue to the first and third counts of the complaint. The evidence in behalf of plaintiff on the trial tended to prove the averments in the complaint; the plaintiff testifying that it was in December, and had been disagreeable, rainy weather, and that it was dark when the train reached Collinsville, and she did not know but that the train had reached Porterville when the conductor, to whom she had given her ticket entitling her to ride to Porterville told her she had reached her destination and to get off, and that she did not find out, as she was not acquainted with the surroundings, that she had been put off at the wrong place until after the train pulled out from the station; that she had to spent the night in a hotel at Collinsville, with her children, one of whom was a baby, and did not reach home until the next afternoon, when her husband, who had been telephoned for, took her home in a private conveyance; that her trunk was carried on to Porterville and did not reach her for a day or two afterwards. The evidence introduced on behalf of the defendant was to the effect that the station was correctly called when the train reached Collinsville, and a stop of several minutes was made at that station; that the conductor did not inform appellee she had reached her destination, or put her off, or in any way cause her to leave the train at Collinsville. The proposition presented and principally relied upon by appellant is whether or not, under the facts in the case, the trial court was in error in leaving the question of awarding punitive damages to the jury.
That there can be no punitive damages awarded in the...
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