Nashville & Chattanooga R.R. Co. v. Eakin
| Decision Date | 30 September 1869 |
| Parties | Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad Co. v. W. L. Eakin, Adm'r, etc. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
FROM HAMILTON.
At the February Term, 1861, this cause was submitted to a jury, who returned a verdict for $7,000 damages against the Railroad; on which there was a judgment, and an appeal by the Railroad Co. Judge JOHN C. GAUT, presiding.
D. M. KEY, for Railroad Company.
W. L. EAKIN, for Eakin.
This is an action commenced on the 8th day of December, 1858, by the administrator of Tolliver Jones, deceased, in the Law Court of Chattanooga, against the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company.
The facts of the case are briefly, as follows:
On the 14th day of December, 1857, Tolliver Jones got on board a passenger train of cars at Murfreesborough, Tennessee, on the road of the defendant, and paid the fare for the entire journey from Murfreesborough to Chattanooga. The train proceeded in the direction of Chattanooga, and while it was passing over that part of the road which lies in the State of Alabama, it came to an obstruction on the road, produced by a collision which had taken place a short time before. The train being unable to pass, the passengers and Jones with the others, left this train and went on board another train on the same road, which had come from the opposite direction, and had met with the same obstruction. This last mentioned train then started back at great speed, in the direction from which it had come, the locomotive being in the rear. It had gone about one mile, when being still in the State of Alabama, a cow came upon the track in front of the train, and the cars were thrown off and the leg of Jones was broken between the ankle and knee. In a few days it was ascertained that amputation was necessary, and this was accordingly performed. He lived about four weeks from the time of the accident.
He died in Alabama, near the place of the accident, having remained in that State during the intermediate time. He was a citizen of Georgia, and left a widow and two children, living in that State. An administrator was appointed in Hamilton county, Tennessee, who commenced this suit, which resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of the plaintiff, for seven thousand dollars; from which judgment the defendant has appealed to this Court.
The declaration charges that the death was occasioned ??y the culpable negligence of the defendant, through its officers, agents and servants.
The defendant filed two pleas in abatement.
The writ was issued against the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company, and the sheriff made the following return:
“Came to hand same day issued and executed, by summoning James A. Whiteside, Vice President of defendant, and acting President, the 20th day of December, 1858; and also summoned Robert M. Hook, agent of defendant at Chattanooga, the 14th February, 1859.”
The first plea in abatement, alleges, in substance, that Vernor K. Stevenson, is now, and was at the time of the issuance and service of the writ on Whiteside and Hook, the acting President and chief officer of the defendant, and that he then resided and and still resides in, and is a citizen of Davidson county, Tennessee, where the defendant has its chief office, or place of business.
We think the demurrer in this plea was properly sustained. For aught that appears in the plea, service was made on the agent having his office in Hamilton county, with the business of which office or agency this suit may be connected; or for aught that appears in the plea, this suit may have grown out of the business of that office or agency, and if so, the service was properly made on this agent: Code, sec. 2834.
The second plea in abatement, sets forth that the injury complained of, if inflicted, was done and perpetrated in Alabama.
This plea, if a good defense to the action, is a plea in bar, and not in abatement, and was properly overruled.
But after this plea was overruled, the defendant pleaded the same matter in bar, to which plaintiff also demurred, and the demurrer was sustained. This brings u?? to the...
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...death actions, substantive rights are determined according to the law of the place of injury, lex loci delicti. Nashville & C. R. Co. v. Eakin, 46 Tenn. 582 (1869); Parsons v. American Trust & Banking Co., 168 Tenn. 49, 43 S.W.2d 698 (1934). If Congress has relinquished to the individual st......
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Huber v. Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company
...Courts should have authority to enforce other State laws in the general nature of Lord Campbell's Act." 3 Citing Nashville & C. R. Co. v. Eakin, 46 Tenn. 582 (1869), and Parsons v. American Trust & Banking Co., 168 Tenn. 49, 73 S.W.2d 698 4 45 U.S.C.A. § 51: "Every common carrier by railroa......
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