Wilson v. Western Union Tel. Co

• Decision Date: 10 November 1905
• Citation: 124 Ga. 131,52 S.E. 153
• Parties: WILSON . v. WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

52 S.E. 153

124 Ga. 131

WILSON .

v.WESTERN UNION TELEGRAPH CO.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 10, 1905.

Telegraph Companies — Failure to Deliver Telegram—Action for Damages— —Proximate Cause.

In a suit for compensatory damages, where the damages alleged were not proximately caused by an act of the defendant, a demurrer to the petition was rightly sustained.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from City Court of Way cross; J. C. Reynolds, Judge.

Action by J. H. Wilson against the Western Union Telegraph Company. Judgment

for defendant, and plaintiff brings error. Affirmed.

A suit for damages was brought by J. H. Wilson against the Western Union Telegraph Company, the plaintiff basing his right to recover upon the following allegations of fact: During the year 1904, he resided at No. 51 Jane street, in the city of Waycross, about 300 yards from the office of the defendant company in that city, and was employed in the shops of the Atlantic & Birmingham Railway Company at that place. The defendant is a corporation engaged in the business of receiving and transmitting telegraphic messages, and charged with the duty of promptly delivering the same, having an office and agent in the city of Way-cross during the year 1904, as well as an office and agent at Burlington, N. C, and a continuous line for the transmission of telegraphic messages between these points. During the past 25 years plaintiff has been engaged in the regular occupation of a bridgeman, in which work he is skilled and his services have been in demand. He had been previously in the employ of the Carolina Steel Bridge & Construction Company, a thoroughly reliable and responsible corporation of Burlington, engaged in the manufacture and construction of steel bridges and other structural work, and its officers and agents were well acquainted with his competency for doing the kind of work in which that company was engaged. This company, desiring to again employ plaintiff to engage in performing the work of constructing certain railroad bridges then being erected by the company in North Carolina, did, on March 12, 1904, file in the office of the defendant company, at Burlington, with its agent or operator, a message bearing that date and addressed to "J. H. Wilson, Bridgeman, Waycross, Georgia, " duly signed and containing this inquiry: "Can you commence work next week? Answer." There had already been an understanding between plaintiff and the sender of this message that "his services could be procured in connection with said work, when wanted, at a salary of $80" per month, together with board for himself, worth $20 per month. The message addressed to the plaintiff was immediately transmitted by the operator at Burlington, and was on the same date duly received at the office of the defendant at Waycross; but, notwithstanding the plaintiff resided within a short distance of its office in that city, and was at the time engaged at work in the railroad shops where he was employed, the message, owing to the neglect of the company's employes, was not delivered to the plaintiff with promptness and dispatch, as the duty imposed and devolving upon the company required it to do, either at his residence or at his place of business, although the message could and should have been delivered to him within a few minutes after it was received by the operator at Waycross. On account of the negligence of the company and its failure to diligently perform the duty then and there required of it, the message was not delivered to plaintiff until 10 days had elapsed from the date of its reception. Immediately upon getting the message, plaintiff notified the Carolina Steel Bridge & Construction Company that he accepted its offer of employment and stated that he was ready to at once commence and enter upon the work that company desired him to engage in, upon the terms as understood between them; but the company informed him, by another...