Philadelphia, W. & B. R. Co. v. Hoeflich

• Decision Date: 18 June 1884
• Citation: 62 Md. 300
• Parties: THE PHILADELPHIA, WILMINGTON AND BALTIMORE RAILROAD COMPANY v. CAROLINE HOEFLICH and PHILIP HOEFLICH, her Husband.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

62 Md. 300

THE PHILADELPHIA, WILMINGTON AND BALTIMORE RAILROAD COMPANY v. CAROLINE HOEFLICH and PHILIP HOEFLICH, her Husband.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

June 18, 1884

APPEAL from the Court of Common Pleas.

This action was brought by the appellees against the appellant, to recover damages for ejecting the female plaintiff from a car on its road.

Exception.--The testimony being closed on both sides, the plaintiffs offered the two following prayers:

1. If the jury find from the evidence, that the female plaintiff on or about the first of October, 1882, purchased a ticket entitling her to transportation over the defendant's railroad, from Baltimore to Magnolia Station, and that while travelling on said ticket along with her father and younger sister, the conductor demanded fare for the child, which was not paid by either the female plaintiff or the father, and that the conductor knew that the man who was travelling in company with the plaintiff and her sister was their father and a proper person to take charge of the child, or by the exercise of reasonable care under all the circumstances might have so known; and shall further find, that before reaching Magnolia Station, the female plaintiff, while properly conducting herself on said train, and after the conductor had taken up her ticket, was forcibly ejected from the cars by the defendant's agents, then the plaintiffs are entitled to recover.

2. If the jury find for the plaintiffs under their first prayer, then they should award such damages as will, under all the circumstances of the case, compensate the female plaintiff for the injury to her person and feelings suffered by reason of the unlawful acts of the defendant; and if they believe that said unlawful acts were deliberately and forcibly done, then they may give such exemplary damages as they may consider a proper punishment for the conduct of the defendant, acting through its agent, the conductor.

The defendant specially excepted to the plaintiffs' first prayer on the following grounds:

1. That there was no legally sufficient evidence to sustain the same.

2. That it submitted a question or questions of law to the jury.

The defendant offered the two following prayers:

1. If the jury shall believe from the evidence, that about the 1st day of October, 1882, the female plaintiff, Caroline Hoeflich, got upon a train of defendant at Baltimore, having with her a child of about twelve years of age, both intending to go upon the said train to Magnolia, whither the train was bound; and after the train had started, the conductor asked the female plaintiff for tickets, and she produced one for herself from Baltimore to Magnolia, but produced none for the child; and that the child was sitting in the seat with her; and that the conductor asked if the child was with her; and she said the child was; and he then asked the female plaintiff the age of the child; and she thereupon said that the child was twelve years of age; and that the conductor then said the female plaintiff must pay half fare for the child from Baltimore to Magnolia; and that the female plaintiff refused so to pay for the child; and that the conductor told her that if she did not do so, he would be obliged to put off the train the child, and with her the female plaintiff; and that the female plaintiff still refused to pay the half-fare for the child; and that thereupon, the conductor of the defendant's train, put the female plaintiff and the child off the same, at Chase's Station, then the plaintiffs are not entitled to recover.

2. If the jury shall believe from the evidence, that on or abont the 1st day of October, 1882, the female plaintiff, Caroline Hoeflich, came with her father and a sister about twelve years of age, to the depot of defendant at President street, in the city of Baltimore, and bought two full tickets, one for her father and one for herself, to Magnolia Station on defendant's railroad, and that shortly afterwards they all three got on a train of defendant bound from President Street Station for Magnolia Station, and that the female plaintiff took a seat in a car of the train, and that the child took a seat beside her, and that her father was not with them when the conductor came through for tickets after the train left Bay View, and that the conductor did come through the train after leaving Bay View, and asked the female plaintiff for tickets, and that she thereupon gave the conductor the two full tickets from Baltimore to Magnolia, and said that one was for herself, and the other for a gentleman in the end of the car, or in the baggage car, and that the conductor then asked plaintiff if the child was with her, and she said the child was, and he then asked her for a ticket for the child, and that the female plaintiff said that she had none for her, and that the conductor then asked the female plaintiff the child's age, and that the female plaintiff said the child was twelve years of age, and that the conductor then said the female plaintiff must pay half-fare for the child, and that the female plaintiff refused to pay the same, and that the conductor told the female plaintiff that unless she paid the same he would put her and the child off the train, and that the female plaintiff did not tell the conductor that the father of herself and the child was on the train, and did not refer the conductor to him for the child's fare, and that the female plaintiff still refused to pay the half-fare for the child, and that the conductor of the defendant's train did thereupon put the female plaintiff and the child off the train, and in doing so used no more force than was necessary to overcome the resistance that they made, then the plaintiffs are not entitled to recover, and their verdict must be for the defendant.

The Court, (BROWN, C.J.,) granted the plaintiffs' prayers, and rejected those of the defendant. The defendant excepted. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for the sum of $2,500, and judgment was entered thereon. The defendant appealed.

The cause was argued before ALVEY, C.J., YELLOTT, MILLER, ROBINSON, RITCHIE, and BRYAN, J.

Henry J. Bowdoin, and John J. Donaldson, for the appellant.

Charles Brandau, and William A. Hammond, for the appellees.

ROBINSON J., delivered the opinion of the Court.

The female plaintiff with her father, and a younger sister, eleven years of age, got upon the defendant's train at Baltimore for the purpose of going to Magnolia Station. When the conductor came around she handed him two tickets, one for herself and the other for her father, who was in another part of the car. The younger sister was sitting beside her, and the conductor asked, "is this girl with you?" She answered "yes." Thereupon he said he must collect half-fare for the girl, which the plaintiff refused to pay. In a few minutes the conductor returned, and again demanded payment of the child's fare, and which was again refused by the plaintiff. After making the demand a third time, the conductor told her unless the fare was paid he should be obliged to put her and the child off at Chase's Station, and the plaintiff still refusing to pay the same, she and the child were both put off the train.

The plaintiff had paid her own fare and the defendant had no right of course to eject her from the train, unless there was a contract express or implied on her part to pay the fare of her younger sister. There is no evidence of an express contract, and if one is to be implied, it must be on the ground that the younger sister was under her charge, and being under her charge, and thus responsible for her presence on the car, it was her duty to see the fare was paid. The defendant was under no obligation of course to carry the younger sister, without being paid a reasonable compensation, and if she was under the plaintiff's charge it is but fair and reasonable to hold her responsible for the fare. Under such circumstances the law would imply an agreement on her part to pay the fare of the child, and if she refused to pay it, the defendant had the right to put off both the plaintiff and the child--the plaintiff because she had not complied with the contract on her part implied by law, and the child because the company was not required to carry it unless its fare was paid according to the rules and regulations of the company.

But it seems the father of the child was in fact in the car, and if so, he was as the natural guardian and protector of his child liable for the payment of its fare. And although the conductor found the child sitting beside the plaintiff, yet if he knew the father was in the car, or the circumstances were such as to put a reasonable person on the inquiry, he had no right to hold the female plaintiff responsible for her sister's fare. And this we think was a question for the jury. Now he did inquire, it is true, whether " the girl sitting beside the plaintiff was with her," to which she replied "yes;" and if the case rested here it might be said that he was justified in acting on the presumption that the girl was under the plaintiff's charge. But the plaintiff says she told him her father was in the car, and although this is denied by him, the proof shows beyond question that he knew there was a man travelling in company with the plaintiff and her sister, and that he interfered for their protection when they were being put off and further, that he went off with them. So whether the conductor knew or might have reasonably known by proper inquiry that this man was their father, was, under all the circumstances, a proper question to be submitted to the jury. If he did know it, or the circumstances were such as to put him on the inquiry, he had no right of course to eject the plaintiff from the train; and...