Missouri, K. & T. Ry. Co. v. Cocreham

• Decision Date: 13 March 1895
• Citation: 30 S.W. 1118
• Parties: MISSOURI, K. & T. RY. CO. v. COCREHAM.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

30 S.W. 1118

MISSOURI, K. & T. RY. CO. v. COCREHAM.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

March 13, 1895.

Appeal from Hays county court; B. G. Neighbors, Judge.

Action by D. R. Cocreham against the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company for breach of contract of shipment of a car load of mules. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.

The allegations in the complaint as to damages were as follows: "Plaintiff says that, if the said mules had been transported from said city of Clinton to said city of Hearne, via said city of Waco, over said lines of railroad, with diligence and reasonable dispatch, then he would have been able to sell them in the market at and in the vicinity of said city of Hearne, and to his pecuniary advantage at once upon their arrival there; but that, in consequence of the delay occasioned by the aforesaid negligent, oppressive, and tortious conduct of defendant, he was not able to sell said mules when he reached said city of Hearne, but lost the opportunity to sell them on that account; that he was thereby put to great inconvenience, expense, and loss of time, and compelled to drive said mules from place to place, seeking a market for them, and whereby they were much reduced in value. He was put to extra expenses in driving and feeding said mules from place to place to the amount of $100, and he suffered loss of time of the value of $100, and said mules were depreciated in value to the amount of $300, all in consequence of the aforesaid wrongful acts of defendant, and to his actual damage in the sum of $500."

Witness McGehee, who testified as to the market value of the mules at Hearne, their place of destination, on December 26th and 27th, the time the mules should have reached there, testified that "my opportunity for knowing the market was that I shipped some mules to Calvert on the 2d day of January, 1893, and found the market pretty well supplied by other parties, but sold some not as fine as Mr. Cocreham's at $250 and $275 a pair. Meeting parties who had sold a great many mules was my means of knowing and judging the prices."

Clarence H. Miller and Fisher & Townes, for appellant. Brown & Pritchett, for appellee.

FISHER, C. J.

There was no error in overruling the demurrer to the petition. It set out sufficiently the items of damages.

The charge of the court gave the correct rule as the measure of damages that should govern in this case, and the evidence in the record warrants the charge in...