Plant System Relief & Hosp. Dept v. Dickerson

• Decision Date: 14 August 1903
• Citation: 118 Ga. 647,45 S.E. 483
• Parties: PLANT SYSTEM RELIEF & HOSPITAL DEPT. v. DICKERSON.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

45 S.E. 483

118 Ga. 647

PLANT SYSTEM RELIEF & HOSPITAL DEPT.

v.DICKERSON.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Aug. 14, 1903.

VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION—ACTION—PARTIES— NEGLIGENCE—PLEADING.

1. In a suit against the Plant System Relief & Hospital Department, which was averred to be a voluntary association, composed of certain named railroad corporations, "and having an office, agent, and place of business" in the county in which suit was brought, this court cannot, on a general demurrer filed by said Plant System Relief & Hospital Department, hold that beneficiaries of such association are necessary parties.

2. The plaintiff below, the defendant in error, having sued for damages alleged to have resulted to him from the "gross and inexcusable negligence and want of skill and care" of the physicians and surgeons in charge of the hospitals of the plaintiff in error in their attention to him, and not having averred that the plaintiff in error did not observe due care in the selection of said physicians and surgeons, the general demurrer should have been sustained.

v 2. See Charities, vol. 9, Cent. Dig. § 103.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from City Court of Savannah; T. M. Norwood, Judge.

Action by S. J. Dickerson against the Plant System Relief & Hospital Department. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed.

W. L. Clay and W. G. Charlton, for plaintiff in error.

Twiggs & Oliver, for defendant in error.

TURNER, J. S. J. Dickerson brought in the city court of Savannah a suit for damages against the Plant System Relief & Hospital Department, which was alleged to be "a voluntary association, composed of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway Company, the Charleston & Savannah Railway Company, the Alabama Midland Railway Company, the Brunswick & Western Railroad Company, the Florida Southern Railroad Company, the Sanford & St Petersburg Railroad Company, the Silver Springs, Ocala & Gulf Railroad Company, the St. Johns & Lake Eustis Railway Company, the Ashley River Railway Company, the Green Pond, Waterboro & Branchville Railroad Company, the Tampa & Thonotosassa Railroad Company, the Winston & Bone Valley Railway Company, the Abbeville Southern Railway Company, the South Florida Telegraph Company, and the Plant Investment Company, " which said association was averred to have an office, agent, and place of business in Chatham county, in this state. Dickerson alleged in his petition that, by being an employe of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway Company, he became "a member" or beneficiary of said association, and set forth in an exhibit to his petition the benefits, rules, and regulations of said association. He claimed to have been injured by an accident occurring while he was in the service of the Savannah, Florida & Western Railway Company, and that, by virtue of his membership or position as a beneficiary in said association, he went to its hospital at Waycross for treatment; that the surgeons and physicians in charge unskillfully and improperly treated his injury, and on account of such unskillful and improper treatment, which he characterized as "gross and inexcusable, " he has become crippled for life, etc. The return of the deputy sheriff of Chatham county, as finally amended, was as follows: "I have this day served copies of the within writ upon the defendant corporations by serving same upon W. B. Denham, Gen'l Supt. 0. & Savh. Railway, W. B. Denham, Gen'l Supt. Plant System Relief & Hospital Department, and W. B. Denham, Gen'l Supt. Savannah, Florida & Western Railway Company, personally." Certain amendments, unnecessary to be stated here, were made to the petition; and to the amended petition a general demurrer was filed in the name of the Plant System Relief & Hospital Department, by the attorneys representing the demurrer. The court below overruled the general demurrer, and the case is brought here on an assignment of error based on that judgment of the city court.

1. In the brief of counsel for the plaintiff in error it is insisted, in effect, that all the beneficiaries of said association constituted the association, and should have been sued. If there was any merit in this point, we think it should have been raised by special demurrer. Eagan v. Conway, 115 Ga. 130 (6), 135, 41 S. E. 493. In that case the court said: "In a summary of points raised by the general demurrer, counsel for the plaintiffs in error in their brief allude to the fact, as disclosed by the petition, that two of the plaintiffs are minors, suing by their, next friend. No reason is given, nor argument presented, to show that on that account the petition set forth no cause of action. A general demurrer goes to the merits of the case as shown on the face of the pleadings. It follows that, even if the objection raised by counsel is a good one, it is not properly...