Dwight Mfg. Co. v. Holmes
Decision Date | 21 December 1916 |
Docket Number | 7 Div. 832 |
Citation | 198 Ala. 590,73 So. 933 |
Parties | DWIGHT MFG. CO. v. HOLMES. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied Jan. 18, 1917
Appeal from City Court of Gadsden; John H. Disque, Judge.
Suit by Samantha Holmes against the Dwight Manufacturing Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Transferred from the Court of Appeals under Act April 18, 1911 (Laws 1911, p. 450) § 6. Reversed and remanded.
Dortch Martin & Allen, of Gadsden, for appellant.
W.J Boykin, of Gadsden, for appellee.
This suit is to recover damages for personal injuries. The trial was had on counts 1 and B, respectively, under the first and third subdivisions of the Employers' Liability Act (Code § 3910).
When a complaint for negligence shows a relation between the parties out of which arises a duty owing from the defendant to the plaintiff, and it is averred that the defendant negligently failed to do and perform the act imposed by that duty, a sufficient cause of action is stated. What the defendant did, and how he did it, or what he failed or omitted to do, is generally better known to the defendant than to the plaintiff; hence a general form of averment has been held sufficient. It is not necessary to define the quo modo. T.C., I. & R.R. Co. v. Moore, 69 So. 540; Leach v. Bush, 57 Ala. 145; Ensley Railway Co. v. Chewning, 93 Ala. 24, 9 So. 458; M. & O.R.R. Co. v. George, 94 Ala. 199, 10 So. 145; L. & N.R.R. Co. v. Jones, 130 Ala. 456, 30 So. 586; Southern Car & Foundry Co. v. Bartlett, 137 Ala. 234, 34 So. 20; Reiter-Connolly Co. v. Hamlin, 144 Ala. 192, 40 So. 280; Creola Lumber Co. v. Mills, 149 Ala. 474, 42 So. 1019; Ala. S. & W. Co. v. Tallant, 165 Ala. 521, 51 So. 835; Republic I. & S. Co. v. Williams, 168 Ala. 612, 53 So. 76; L. & N.R.R. Co. v. Bargainier, 168 Ala. 567, 53 So. 138; Little Cahaba Coal Co. v. Gilbert, 178 Ala. 515, 59 So. 445; Woodward Iron Co. v. Marbut, 183 Ala. 310, 62 So. 804; Sloss-Sheffield S. & I. Co. v. Dobbs, 187 Ala. 452, 65 So. 360; Sloss-Sheffield Co. v. Terry, 191 Ala. 476, 481, 67 So. 678.
In Armstrong v. Montgomery Street Railway, 123 Ala. 233, 26 So. 349, a suit by a passenger, it was held that the averment that the defendant negligently conducted the business of carrying passengers, and by reason of such negligence such injuries resulted, sufficiently stated a cause of action. B.R., L. & P. Co. v. Weathers, 164 Ala. 23, 51 So. 303; T.C., I. & R.R. Co. v. Smith, 171 Ala. 258, 55 So. 170.
Appellant's counsel cite in support of the demurrer to count Woodward Iron Co. v. Wade, 192 Ala. 657, 68 So. 1008; T.C., I. & R.R. Co. v. Smith, 171 Ala. 255, 55 So. 170; Ala. C.C. & I. Co. v. Hammond, 156 Ala. 253, 47 So. 248. An examination of these cases will show that they are not in conflict with the authorities above cited. In the Wade Case the complaint, in form the same as count B in the instant case, was treated as sufficient; only the plaintiff's burden of proof under the averment of such count was discussed and defined. In the Smith Case the counts considered and held sufficient were under the first subdivision of the act, and in Sloss-Sheffield S. & I. Co. v. Terry, supra, the court (declaring such count sufficient) said of the Smith Case:
"Neither the decision nor the opinion in T.C., I. & R.R. Co. v. Smith, 171 Ala. 251 , qualify the ruling and doctrine of the long line of decisions noted above."
So, in Sloss-Sheffield S. & I. Co. v. Capps, 182 Ala. 651, 654, 62 So. 66, 67, the Smith Case was again distinguished by Mr. Justice Mayfield, as follows:
The Hammond Case is discussed by Mr. Justice Sayre in Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Williams, supra, where it is said:
Count B was free from demurrer challenging its sufficiency. The words "negligently ordered or directed," when coupled with the other necessary averments contained in count B, make the count state a good cause of action under subdivision 3 of the Employers' Liability Act. B.R., L. & P. Co. v. Weathers, supra; Ala. S. & W. Co. v Tallant, supra; B.R., L. & P. Co. v. Adams, 146 Ala. 267, 40 So. 385, 119 Am.St.Rep. 27; Sloss-Sheffield S. & I. Co. v. Dobbs, supra.
It is a familiar rule that a complaint which avers negligence in general terms and then attempts to set out the particular acts constituting negligence is demurrable, unless the acts so specified, in themselves, constitute negligence as a matter of law. Johnson v. B.R., L. & P. Co., 149 Ala. 529, 43 So. 33; B.R., L. & P. Co. v. Barrett, 179 Ala. 279, 60 So. 262; Knight v. T.V.R.R. Co., 190 Ala. 140, 67 So. 238; B.R., L. & P. Co. v. Wilcox, 181 Ala. 512, 61 So. 908; Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Williams, supra; B.R., L. & P. Co. v. Bennett, 144 Ala. 372, 39 So. 565.
It is likewise established by a long line of decisions in this state that a plea of contributory negligence is not sufficient if it merely states a conclusion of law, but must aver the facts constituting the negligence, and that the facts so averred must be such as that the conclusion of negligence follows as a matter of law. Evans v. Ala.-Ga Syrup Co., 175 Ala. 85, 56 So. 529; Creola Lumber Co. v. Mills, supra; Osborne, Adm'r, v. Steel & Wire Co., 135 Ala. 571, 575, 33 So. 687; Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Walker, 164 Ala. 33, 49, 51 So. 169; T.C., I. & R.R. Co. v. Herndon, Adm'r, 100 Ala. 451, 14 So. 287; Johnson v. L. & N.R.R. Co., 104 Ala. 241, 16 So. 75, 53 Am.St.Rep. 39; Railway Co. v. Shelton, Adm'r, 136 Ala. 191, 34 So. 194; Western Railway of Ala. v. Russell, Adm'r, 144 Ala. 153, 39 So. 311, 113 Am.St.Rep. 24; New Connellsville C. & C. Co. v. Kilgore, 162 Ala. 642, 50 So. 205; L. & N.R.R. Co. v. Bargainier, 168 Ala. 576, 53 So. 138; L. & N.R.R. Co. v. Markee, Adm'r, 103 Ala. 160, 15 So. 511, 49 Am.St.Rep. 21; Jordan v. Ala. C., G. & A. Ry. Co., 179 Ala. 291, 60 So. 309; Grasselli Chem. Co....
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