Rehearing
Denied Oct. 4, 1927
Appeal
from Circuit Court, Lauderdale County; Norman Gunn, Special
Judge.
Action
for damages by Mrs. Maggie Penny, as next friend of Mamie
Falls, a minor, against the Southern Railway Company. From a
judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Affirmed.
$1,000
damages for railroad's furnishing half-fare ticket to one
applying and paying for full-fare ticket held not excessive.
Count 1 of the complaint is as follows:
"1. Plaintiff claims of defendant the sum of five
thousand dollars as damages for this, to wit: Mamie Falls is
a minor of the age of 15 years. Southern Railway Company is a
corporation organized under the laws of the state of
Virginia, and engaged in business as a common carrier of
passengers in the state of Alabama and other states. On, to
wit, September 17, 1925, said Mamie Falls bought from the
ticket agent of defendant, at its station in Sheffield
Alabama, a ticket to ride as a passenger by train from
Sheffield, Alabama, to Paragould, Arkansas. In purchase of
the ticket inquiry was made of defendant's agent as to
the price of a full-fare ticket between said two points, and
he quoted the rate at $8.50. Thereupon request was made for a
full-fare ticket between said points, and payment was made to
the said agent by the delivery of a $10 bill, and he returned
a ticket good for passage between said two points. The said
ticket called for passage over the lines of the Southern
Railway Company to Memphis, Tennessee, and over the lines of
the Missouri Pacific Railway from Memphis, Tennessee, to
Paragould, Arkansas, and the said agent of defendant
collected the full price of $8.50 which he had designated as
the price of the fare for an adult in payment for said
railway ticket. Said Mamie Falls, as the owner of said
ticket, used the same in traveling as far as Memphis
Tennessee, on her proposed journey from Sheffield, Alabama
to Paragould, Arkansas. At Memphis, Tennessee, she
transferred, according to the ticket so sold her by the
defendant, to the train of the Missouri Pacific Railroad
bound for Paragould, Arkansas. At the hour of about 10
o'clock at night, on the said Missouri Pacific train, and
while undertaking to travel on the said ticket so sold her,
the conductor in charge of said train asked the said Mamie
Falls her age. She replied that she was 15 years old, and he
thereupon spoke harshly, rudely, and abusively to her, and
said that she was undertaking to travel on a half-fare
ticket, in violation of right and law. Said Mamie Falls then
and there replied to the said conductor that she had ordered
and paid for a full-fare ticket at the price of $8.50, from
Sheffield, Alabama, to Paragould, Arkansas, and that she was
not undertaking to travel on a half-fare ticket, and that,
having paid a full fare for what was held out to her as a
full-fare ticket, she had a right to ride on the same to the
destination specified in said ticket, to wit, Paragould,
Arkansas. Then
and there the said conductor denied the right of said Mamie
Falls to continue further her journey on the said ticket, and
threatened to stop the train and put her off then and there
in the nighttime, alone and between stations, and where she
was unacquainted and had no friends. The said conductor
further commanded the said Mamie Falls to pay him the
additional sum of $1.83 as a condition for her continuing
further on said journey. The said Mamie Falls replied that
she had only $1 and could not pay money which she did not
have. The said conductor thereupon further said that he would
not accept $1, and would allow her only a few minutes to
produce the $1.83, and if she failed in so doing he would
stop the train and eject her in the nighttime and in the
remote country where the train then was; all this to the
great shock, fright, humiliation, and pain of the said Mamie
Falls, then and there by the said actions of the said
conductor so in charge of the said train, and said Mamie
Falls was put to the further humiliation of violent weeping,
which she could not avoid in the circumstances, and
attracting the attention of passengers on the train to her
humiliated predicament; and she was further forced, in order
to save herself from ejection from said train and consequent
danger to her life and health, to receive financial aid from
a stranger who was a passenger on said train, and was further
and in this manner forced by the said conductor then and
there to pay to him the additional sum of $1.83 for the
completion of her transportation to Paragould, Arkansas, the
point of destination named in her ticket which she had
procured from the defendant. And the said Mamie Falls, by the
said fright which she then and there suffered, was made sick
and nervous, and her health was permanently injured.
"And plaintiff says and alleges that the ticket actually
delivered by the agent of the defendant in discharge of his
duties as ticket agent at Sheffield, Alabama, to the said
Mamie Falls, in exchange for the price paid to him of a
full-fare ticket, to wit, the sum of $8.50, was a half-fare
ticket. And plaintiff further alleges that the action of the
said ticket agent of defendant so in discharge of his duty
was negligent and wrongful, and that as a proximate
consequence of the said wrong so perpetrated the said Mamie
Falls suffered financial loss and physical pain and illness,
and fright and mental suffering, all to plaintiff's
damage in the sum aforesaid."
The
following requested charges were refused to defendant:
"E. Even though you might find from the evidence that
the conductor was rude to Mamie Falls while she was a
passenger on her way from Memphis, Tenn., to Paragould, Ark.,
you would not be authorized to find a verdict against the
defendant."
"F. Even though you might find from the evidence that
Mr. Dickey, the conductor, threatened to put Mamie Falls off
the train while she was a passenger, you would not be
authorized to find a verdict for plaintiff on that
account."
"H. You would not be authorized to compensate plaintiff
for any future anxiety or humiliation she may suffer on
account of the conduct of the conductor of the Missouri
Pacific Railroad Company."
BRICKEN
P.J.
On the
17th day of September, 1925, Mamie Falls, a girl about 15
years old, through her aunt, Mrs. Maggie Penny, applied to
the ticket agent of the appellant, at Sheffield, Ala., for
the purchase of a full-fare ticket from Sheffield, Ala., to
Paragould, Ark. The agent was advised that the ticket was
desired for a girl who had never traveled alone, or who was
not accustomed to traveling alone, and that it was desired
that Mamie Falls should not be inconvenienced or troubled.
The agent replied, "There will be no danger, unless the
train goes in a ditch." The purchaser of the ticket was
informed by the agent that the price of a full-fare ticket
was $8.50, which was then and there paid to him, and a ticket
was delivered to her.
Mamie
Falls embarked on her journey on a train of defendant
carrier, and was safely transported on said ticket to
Memphis, Tenn., by said carrier. At Memphis there was a
change of trains, and that night, about 10 o'clock, Mamie
Falls boarded a train of the Missouri Pacific Railroad
Company, over whose lines said ticket was sold, for the
completion of her journey. Shortly after the young passenger
had boarded the train at Memphis, the conductor of the
Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, while taking up his
tickets, came to Mamie Falls and asked her for her ticket,
and when the same was handed to him he asked her how old she
was, and, on being informed that she was 15 years old, told
her that she could not continue her passage on that ticket
without paying $1.83 additional, which sum of money she did
not have. Plaintiff, among other things, testified:
"That this conductor told her that she did not have any
business riding on a half-fare ticket; also, 'You will
have to pay the difference of $1.83,' and being advised
by the girl that she had paid full fare for her ticket, and
did not have on her person but one half dollar, that the
conductor replied, 'You had better get busy and get it,
if you don't want to walk back.' " That she was
told by the conductor that she "had better get busy and
pass your hat around, or he would put you off." That the
conductor put his hand on the girl, and "told me I had
better get busy and make up that collection, or borrow
it from some one, and he put his hand up like that and pulled
something, and sounded like he was going to stop the train.
That the conductor appeared to be angry, and that she got the
remainder of the money from an old gentleman who was a
passenger on the same train."
As to
what happened when he called for the ticket, the conductor
testified:
"When I got to the little girl, I asked her for her
ticket, and she handed it to me, and I looked at it, and I
saw the ticket was for a half-way
ticket or half-fare ticket, and I looked at her and said,
'How old are you?' and she said, 'I am 15 years
old,' and I says, 'What did you pay for this
ticket?' and she says, '$8 and something;' and I
didn't have any rate in my hand then, and I couldn't
tell what the rate was, and I said to her, 'I can't
carry you on this half-fare ticket;' and I says, 'The
law won't let me carry you on a half-fare ticket;'
and she began to cry before I could say anything to her; and
I says, 'How much money have you got?' and she says,
'I haven't got but 50 cents;' and I says,
'We'll try to raise the money for you.' "
On the
7th day of ...
