St. Louis S. W. Ry. Co. v. Smith

• Decision Date: 14 March 1903
• Citation: 73 S.W. 101
• Parties: ST. LOUIS S. W. RY. CO. v. SMITH.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

73 S.W. 101

ST. LOUIS S. W. RY. CO. v. SMITH.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

March 14, 1903.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Miller County; Joel D. Conway, Judge.

Action by W. M. Smith against the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company. From a judgment of the circuit court in favor of plaintiff on appeal by defendant from a default judgment for plaintiff rendered in justice court, defendant appeals. Reversed.

Gaughan & Tifford and Saml. H. West, for appellant.

HUGHES, J.

On April 30, 1901, the appellee recovered a judgment by default against the appellant, the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, in the sum of $35.29, before W. J. Smithers, a justice of the peace of Miller county, on a claim for labor alleged to have been rendered for the appellant. From this judgment an appeal was taken to the circuit court, where, upon a new trial, judgment was rendered for the appellee for said sum of $35.29. From this judgment an appeal was taken to this court.

The evidence in the case shows that the labor, the value of which now sued for, was performed in the state of Texas for the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company of Texas, which was incorporated in the state of Texas, and whose line extends from Texarkana, on the line between Arkansas and Texas, into the state of Texas, and that it is a distinct and separate corporation and entity from the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company, which was incorporated under the laws of Missouri, and extends to Texarkana only. Smith was employed and worked for the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company of Texas, and it alone was liable to him, and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company is not shown to have owed him anything. There was no evidence that the two companies were jointly liable. St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co. v. Gate City Co-op. Grocery Co. (Ark.) 65 S. W. 706.

The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and judgment will be rendered here for the appellant.