Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Adams
| Decision Date | 09 April 1908 |
| Citation | 46 So. 228,154 Ala. 657 |
| Parties | WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO. v. ADAMS. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from Clay County Court; W. J. Pearce, Judge.
Action by J. Q. Adams against the Western Union Telegraph Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals. Reversed and rendered.
Knox Dixon & Burr and Whatley & Cornelius, for appellant.
Rowland & Allen, for appellee.
This is an action ex contractu by the plaintiff, the sendee of a telegram, for a failure by the defendant to promptly deliver a message sent him by his brother, for the benefit and as agent of the plaintiff. "Whether the sendee has or has not the right to recover in tort for failure to deliver a telegram or for delay in its delivery, without averring or proving a contract to which he is a party or privy, it is clear upon principle, and the proposition is supported by the former decisions of this court, and by the decisions of courts of other jurisdictions, that, without such averment and proof, he cannot recover when his action is based upon contract, and seeks damages resulting from its breach." Postal Co. v. Ford, 117 Ala. 672, 23 So. 684; Western Union Co. v. Adair, 115 Ala. 441, 22 So. 73 and cases there cited; Shingleur v. Western Union Co., 72 Miss. 1030, 18 So. 425, 30 L. R. A. 444, 48 Am St. Rep. 604; Western Union Co. v. Du Boise, 128 Ill. 248, 21 N.E. 4, 15 Am. St. Rep. 109; Gray on Com. by Tel.§§ 74, 75. The evidence not only fails to show that the plaintiff was a party or privy to the contract, but there is an express negation by the sender, Max Adams, that he was acting as the agent of the plaintiff in sending the message.
There seems to be a small class of cases where the sendee can sue ex contractu; that is, where the sender employs the telegraph company to communicate a message solely to benefit the person to whom the message is directed. But if the sender sends the message for his own benefit, notwithstanding it may benefit the sendee also, there is no ground for the imputation that he intends to part with his right of action for a breach of the contract. Authorities supra. The sender in the case at bar admitted that he did not send the message as agent for the plaintiff, and that he sent it because he was his brother, and because he (the sender) wanted the plaintiff present at the bedside of their sick mother. The trial court erred in rendering judgment for the plaintiff, and the judgment...
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Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Baker
... ... refused. The appellant contends that the evidence shows that ... the telegram was sent for the benefit of the sender, and not ... for the benefit of Baker, the sendee, and that under the ... authority of Postal Tel. Co. v. Ford, 117 Ala. 672, ... 23 So. 684, Telegraph Co. v. Adams, 154 Ala. 657, 46 ... So. 228, and Adair's Case, 115 Ala. 441, 22 So. 73, the ... affirmative charge should have been given. The cases cited ... were all actions ex contractu, while it is well settled that ... in actions ex delicto, like the present, the sendee may ... maintain a special ... ...
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Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Hawkins
...fails to show that the sendee was a party to the contract of transmission, or that the message was sent for his sole benefit. Western Union Tel. Co. v. Adams, supra; McGehee Western Union Tel. Co., supra; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Brown, supra. The demurrer to the count, it is conceded, pro......
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Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Anniston Cordage Co.
... ... Co. v. Ella E. Brown, present term ... The ... above rules were announced by the Supreme Court of Alabama in ... the following cases: McGehee v. Western Union Telegraph ... Co., 169 Ala. 109, 53 So. 205, Ann. Cas. 1912B, 512; ... Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Adams, 154 Ala. 657, ... 46 So. 228; Postal Telegraph Co. v. Ford, 117 Ala ... 672, 23 So. 684; Heathcote v. Western Union Telegraph ... Co., 156 Ala. 339, 47 So. 139; Western Union ... Telegraph Co. v. Blocker, 138 Ala. 484, 35 So. 468; ... Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Jackson, 163 Ala. 9, ... ...
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McGehee v. Western Union Telegraph Co.
...the benefit, solely, of the person to whom the message is addressed. This latter announcement has been recently reaffirmed in Adams' Case, 154 Ala. 657, 46 So. 228, among others our decisions. Unless the sendee is in one of the three classes mentioned in the Adair and Ford Cases, and later ......