Patterson v. Augusta & S.R. Co.
| Decision Date | 16 July 1894 |
| Citation | 21 S.E. 283,94 Ga. 140 |
| Parties | PATTERSON v. AUGUSTA & S. R. CO. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
Where the action against a common carrier is upon the contract to safely carry, although the breach alleged resulted in injuries to the person, for which damages are sought to be recovered, the action is one ex contract, and is not barred until four years after the breach, notwithstanding the statute applicable to actions exdelicto bars actions for injuries to the person unless the suit be brought within two years after the right of action accrues.
Error from city court of Richmond; W. F. Eve, Judge.
Action by George Patterson against the Augusta & Savannah Railroad Company for personal injuries. Defendant had judgment, and plaintiff brings error. Reversed.
Colley & Sims and J. R. Lamar, for plaintiff in error.
Lawton & Cunningham and J. C. C. Black, for defendant in error.
Patterson brought his action against the Augusta & Savannah Railroad Company, alleging that he had made a contract with it, whereby it agreed for a certain consideration to transport him safely from the city of Augusta to the city of Waynesboro, on the line of its railroad, and that there was a breach of the contract, in that it did not transport him safely, but that he was injured and damaged by the loss of his arm. Where a person makes a contract of this kind with a common carrier, and he is injured by the negligence of the carrier, he has two remedies,--one an action for the breach of contract, the other an action on the case for the wrong,--and he may elect which remedy he will pursue. If he elects to bring an action for the breach of contract, he has, under the Code, four years within which to bring it; if he elects to sue upon the tort, he has two years. Code, §§ 2923, 3060. If he sues upon the breach of contract, and there is a final adjudication of this suit upon the merits, he cannot afterwards sue the same defendant on the tort. The plaintiff in this case having brought his action for a breach of the contract, and four years not having elapsed before the filing of the suit, he was in time; and, if he proves the contract alleged with this particular defendant, or one of its agents, who was authorized to make it, and the alleged breach and injury resulting therefrom, we see no reason why he cannot recover. See Code, § 2955; Hutch. Carr. § 790. Judgment reversed.
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