Kahl v. Memphis & C.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 25 February 1892
• Citation: 95 Ala. 337,10 So. 661
• Parties: KAHL v. MEMPHIS & C. R. CO.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

10 So. 661

95 Ala. 337

KAHL v. MEMPHIS & C. R. CO.

Supreme Court of Alabama

February 25, 1892

Appeal from circuit court, Colbert county; H. C. SPEAKE, Judge.

Action by John Kahl, administrator, against the Memphis & Charleston Railroad Company, for causing the death of plaintiff's intestate. Judgment for defendant. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

This action was brought by the appellant, John Kahl, as administrator of the estate of John P. Kahl, and sought to recover damages for the alleged negligent killing of the plaintiff's intestate in a collision which occurred on the road of the defendant. The complaint, as amended, shows that the appellee is a domestic corporation, and owns and operates a line of railroad extending from the town of Stephenson, in Alabama, to Memphis, Tenn., and that it has charters from the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee; that said line of railroad is a continuous line through this state, operated by the appellee; that the intestate of the plaintiff was a citizen of Alabama, and at the time of the accident was employed by the defendant as an engineer to run an engine of the said road from the city of Tuscumbia, in Alabama, to Memphis, in Tennessee; and that the contract of employment was made in Alabama. It was also shown that the accident which resulted in the death of the plaintiff's intestate occurred in Mississippi. The defendant demurred to the complaint, as amended, on the following grounds: (1) That it appears from the complaint that the alleged injuries resulting in the death of plaintiff's intestate occurred outside of the jurisdiction of Alabama; (2) that it does not appear from the said complaint, as amended, that the state of Mississippi gave any right to an action by said plaintiff to recover damages for the alleged injuries resulting in the death of his intestate; and (3) that the statutes of the state of Mississippi, as set forth in the amended complaint, did not purport to confer upon the personal representative of the decedent the right of action for injuries resulting in the death of said decedent. The court sustained the defendant's demurrers to the amended complaint, and, the plaintiff declining to further amend his complaint, judgment was rendered by the court for the defendant, to which ruling of the court plaintiff excepted. On this appeal, prosecuted by the plaintiff, the ruling on the demurrer and the judgment of the court are assigned as error.

J B. Moore, for appellant.

Humes & Sheffey, for appellee.

COLEMAN J.

The averments of the complaint show that plaintiff's intestate, while acting in the discharge of his duties as an employe of the defendant's railroad corporation, was killed in a collision of trains, caused by the negligence of the employer. The collision occurred in the state of Mississippi, and the present action to recover damages for the death of the intestate was instituted in the state of Alabama. The court below sustained a demurrer to the amended complaint, and, plaintiff declining to further amend, his action was dismissed. We are of opinion that the amendment added to each count of the complaint, clearly avers three separate, distinct, and independent constituents of the defendant's corporate character,-one created by the state of Mississippi, one by the state of Alabama, one by the state of Tennessee,- and neither dependent upon the other for existence or authority. The averment that it was "a unit as a corporation" is a mere conclusion of the pleader. Though incorporated by the same corporate name, owned by the same stockholders, invested with like franchises, and operated under the same management, so that practically it is a...