Gregory v. Dealers' Equipment Co.

Decision Date17 December 1927
PartiesGREGORY v. DEALERS' EQUIPMENT CO., Inc.
CourtTennessee Supreme Court

Appeal from Circuit Court, Shelby County; W. P. Biggs, Special Judge.

Suit by Robert C. Gregory against the Dealers' Equipment Company, Inc. From a judgment of dismissal, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

U. A. Burgess, of Memphis, for appellant.

Wilson, Gates & Armstrong and Emmett W. Braden, all of Memphis, for appellee.

CHAMBLISS, J.

This was a suit for damages. A demurrer to the declaration was sustained and the suit dismissed. The declaration is in one count, and is set forth in the following language, omitting the formal opening:

"That plaintiff was employed by the Memphis Street Railway as a secret service man on said company's lines and cars in Memphis at a salary of $4 per day and traveling expenses.

"That on or about December 21, 1926, at about 5:45 p. m., one of defendant's trucks, while being run and operated by the defendant's agents, servants, and employees, was run into and against one of Memphis Street Railway's trolley cars on Florida street, Memphis, Tenn. That the passengers on said car were greatly angered and excited thereat, and at once sought to lay hands upon said defendant's employee and do him great bodily harm and lynch him. That plaintiff, being at the time on said street car, and in the employ of said street railway company, rushed said employee of defendant into a store; prevented his being lynched, and called the Memphis police patrol; when the said employee, a colored man, was arrested by said police force, taken to headquarters, and locked up. That he was fined and sentenced to the Shelby county workhouse, but plaintiff interceded for him, and got him retained at said headquarters until his fine could be paid. That for said service he proposed to charge said negro a fee, which was agreed upon at the time. That plaintiff informed, in confidence, the officials of defendant of his said employ, and that thereupon defendant did, through its officials, employees, agents, and servants, maliciously, negligently, and with intent to injure this plaintiff, inform said Memphis Street Railway Company that plaintiff had told it that he was employed as aforesaid, and that then and thereupon the said Memphis Street Railway Company did call plaintiff to its offices and discharge him, and that the actions of said defendant in so informing said Memphis Street Railway Company were the proximate cause of his said discharge, and that plaintiff has been thereby greatly damaged and injured.

"Therefore he sues the defendant for $2,500 as damages, and demands a jury to try the case."

The demurrer challenged the declaration on the grounds, in substance, that no cause of action was stated; that there was no legal obligation on the part of the defendant to refrain from revealing the information; that it owed no duty to the plaintiff in this regard, and was guilty of no wrongful act; also that the alleged employment was against public policy, plaintiff not being alleged to be an attorney at law.

We find no error in the action of the trial court in sustaining the demurrer. The declaration fails to state a cause of action. The disclosure by the defendant of the information volunteered to it by plaintiff was certainly not of itself an unlawful or wrongful act. Defendant owed pla...

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1 cases
  • Welch v. Bancorp Management Advisors, Inc., A7606-08607
    • United States
    • Oregon Court of Appeals
    • June 9, 1982
    ...n 93 (4th ed 1971), cites the following cases:"Lancaster v. Hamburger, 1904, 70 Ohio St. 156, 71 N.E. 289; Gregory v. Dealers' Equipment Co., 1927, 156 Tenn. 273, 300 S.W. 563; Bentley v. Teton, 1958, 19 Ill.App.2d 284, 153 N.E.2d 495; Diver v. Miller, 1929, 4 W.W.Harr., Del., 207, 148 A. 2......

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