Dixie Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Everett

• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: McGehee, J.
• Citation: Dixie Greyhound Lines, Inc. v. Everett, 187 So. 508, 185 Miss. 458 (Miss. 1939)
• Decision Date: 27 March 1939
• Docket Number: 33603
• Parties: DIXIE GREYHOUND LINES, INC., v. EVERETT

187 So. 508

185 Miss. 458

DIXIE GREYHOUND LINES, INC., v. EVERETT

No. 33603

Supreme Court of Mississippi, Division B

March 27, 1939

APPEAL from the circuit court of Hinds county HON. J. P. ALEXANDER Judge.

Action by Mrs. Bertha Everett against the Dixie Greyhound Lines Inc., for damages for allegedly letting passenger off of bus at the wrong place. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed and rendered.

Reversed and judgment here for appellant.

Chandler Shepherd, Owen & Heiskell, of Memphis, Tenn., for appellant.

Appellant's request for a directed verdict at the conclusion of all of the evidence should have been granted for two reasons: (1) The appellant would not be liable for a special agreement between a passenger and the driver of the bus to be put off at some point other than the destination of the ticket; (2) the evidence wholly fails to sustain appellee's allegations to the effect that appellant's driver agreed to put appellee off at some point other than the destination of the ticket.

We submit that the authorities in this state are consistently to the effect that if the conductor of a train or the driver of a bus makes some special agreement or arrangement with a passenger, he is not acting in furtherance of his master's business, but is acting for the passenger.

Wilson v. N. O. & N. E. R. R. Co., 68 Miss. 9; Gage v. I. C. R. R. Co., 75 Miss. 17; Sevier v. Vicksburg & Meridian R. R. Co., 61 Miss. 8; Sellers v. Cleveland C. C. & St. L. Ry. Co., 81 N.E. 1087; Matthews v. Charleston, etc., Ry. Co., 38 S.C. 429.

This court has on numerous occasions held that it was not within the scope of authority of a railway conductor to agree to put a passenger off at some point other than the destination of his ticket, but that such a special contract must be made with the ticket agent of the carrier.

Y. & M. V. R. R. Co. v. O'Keefe, 125 Miss. 536, 88 So. 1; Wells v. Ala. Great Southern R. R. Co., 67 Miss. 24.

The evidence in this case shows that the bus was stopped at a rural store near Cruger, purely as an accommodation to the appellee and her brother, and to this extent the appellant had neglected its duty to its other passengers which was to carry them to their ticket destinations without undue delay. If there is any liability on the part of the appellant to the appellee for this act, it would mean that the driver of the bus on all such occasions must stop the bus, go out into the community and satisfy himself positively that the passenger is getting off the bus where he wants to.

Jackson Light & Traction Co. v. Taylor, 72 So. 856.

The lower court erred in overruling appellant's objection to and in refusing to strike the testimony of appellee to the effect that she had no special agreement with the bus driver and thought that she was leaving the bus at the destination shown on her ticket, all of which was contrary to the allegations of her declaration.

Wells v. Alabama Great Southern R. R. Co., 67 Miss. 24; Chism Bros. v. Alcorn, 71 Miss. 507; Southern Ry. Co. v. Montgomery, 46 F.2d 990; 13 C. J. S. 1237.

The verdict and judgment is contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence.

Chalmers Potter, of Jackson, for appellee.

We most respectfully submit that if the contention of counsel is true, and that is that on a bus of the kind and character involved herein, a contract of carriage between the driver and a passenger is not good, then the declaration is good as a breach of the contract of carriage as evidenced by plaintiff's ticket. The declaration alleges that the plaintiff purchased a ticket from the defendant wherein the defendant contracted to safely transport her from Jackson to Cruger. That notwithstanding this contract that she was put off of the bus at the direction of the driver at a point four miles south of her proper destination. It was this view of the declaration that the court below took and the case was decided on this theory.

Y. & M. V. R. R. v. Wade, 162 Miss. 699, 139 So. 403.

We most respectfully submit that in the first place the declaration states a good and valid cause of action because it alleges, first, that plaintiff purchased a ticket from Jackson to Cruger; second, that the defendant put the plaintiff off at a regular stop four miles south of Cruger. We most respectfully submit that this constitutes the statement of a good and valid cause of action against the defendant and if the contention of the defendant is correct and if the ruling of the court below was correct, that is, that the contract to carry beyond Cruger was not a good contract, then certainly these allegations in the declaration should be treated as a surplusage and the allegations that do state a good cause of action remain and the declaration is good. The question of whether the plaintiff voluntarily disembarked was submitted to the jury under proper instructions and the jury found against the defendant on this issue.

In the second place the special contract of carriage under the evidence in this case was good and the court below committed error in holding the defendant was in no event required to carry the plaintiff beyond Cruger. The evidence of the bus driver shows that the bus line in question did not operate as a railroad or even as a street car company, but that it was the known custom of the defendant to pick up passengers and to put them out anywhere along the road that the passengers desired to get on or off.

The judgment is not contrary to overwhelming weight of evidence.

OPINION

McGehee, J.

The appellant operates a bus line, and is a common carrier of passengers for hire between Jackson, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee, and particularly through the Town of Cruger in this State, some distance north of Jackson. Appellee, who was accompanied by her brother, Gladney Grey purchased a ticket from the agent at Jackson to the Town of Cruger for the purpose of going on the bus to that point on a visit to her brother, Ed...