Carter v. Peck
| Decision Date | 31 December 1856 |
| Citation | 36 Tenn. 203 |
| Parties | CARTER & HOUGH v. T. J. PECK. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
FROM DAVIDSON.
Messrs. Carter & Hough were the owners of a line of stage-coaches from Nashville to Waynesboro, which connected with the line of the Messrs. Sims at the latter place, running to La Grange, Tennessee, and at the latter place connecting with the Memphis & Charleston Railroad in a continuous route from Nashville to Memphis. It was agreed by the respective proprietors of these several lines that through tickets might be purchased by passengers at either end for transportation to the other. The defendant in error, a citizen of Louisiana, purchased of Messrs. Carter & Hough, at Nashville, through tickets for himself, his wife and servant, on this route to Memphis, and proceeded on his journey. At Waynesboro he was informed by the agent of the Messrs. Sims that he had positive instructions not to take, on the coach of the latter, more than seven passengers; and there being that number already entered before him, he must abide his time. The defendant in error asked if he could be assured of getting on in the next coach; to which the agent replied that it was out of his power to make any positive promise about it. The defendant in error, thereupon paid his passage and that of his family from Waynesboro to Jackson, another line leading towards Memphis owned by the plaintiffs in error. He proceeded upon his journey, and at Jackson was detained some time by sickness. He brought this action in the circuit court of Davidson against Carter & Hough, to recover damages; and at the May term, 1856, before Judge Baxter and a jury of said county, he recovered a verdict for $200 damages, upon which there was judgment, and an appeal in error by Carter & Hough in this court.
Russell Houston and N. S. Brown, for the plaintiffs in error, cited Hood v. The New York & New Haven R. R. Co., 22 Conn., 1.
Andrew Ewing, for the defendant in error, cited Ang. on Car., secs. 95-97, 531.
The defendant in error brought his action on the case against the plaintiffs in error in the circuit court of Davidson county, for an alleged breach of their undertaking as common carriers to convey the plaintiff and his family from the city of Nashville to the city of Memphis. The defendants pleaded non assumpsit, upon which an issue was joined, and submitted to a jury, who found for the plaintiff, and assessed his damages at $200, for which judgment was rendered; and defendants moved for a new trial, which was refused, and they have appealed in error to this court.
It appears from the proof, as disclosed by the bill of exceptions, that the defendants were the proprietors of a line of stage-coaches from the city of Nashville to Waynesboro. Sims & Co. owned the line from Wanesboro to La Grange, where it connects with the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, which runs to the city of Memphis. That, by an arrangement between these three parties, it was agreed that passengers might pay the whole fare at either end of the line, and receive a through ticket. There is no proof to show that the arrangement was known to the plaintiff. The plaintiff paid defendants $45, the usual price for three tickets, for himself, his wife, and servant, through from the city of Nashville to the city of Memphis. The plaintiff and family, proceeded to Waynesboro in the coaches of the defendants, where he was informed by the agent of Sims & Co. that he could not receive him nor his family as passengers to La Grange, nor would he agree to take them the next trip, if there should be as many as six or seven...
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