"4. That on or about the ——day of August, 1924, your petitioner resided with her husband, Robert Young, near Waring, in Whitfield county, Georgia, and in said district and division.
"5. That on the night of the above-stated date, petitioner was at her home and was in bed asleep, when suddenly the house was entered by one G. L. Hicks, an agent and employee of said defendant, who entered said house suddenly, violently, and unannounced, at the time holding an electric flash light in one hand and a drawn pistol in the other, and in this manner flushed into the bedroom where your petitioner was, he being at that
time accompanied by other persons, whose names are to petitioner unknown.
"6. That the said Hicks was at the time employed by said defendant company as a special agent, and his duties were to protect the property of said defendant and the freight entrusted to its care from trespassers and thieves and to run down and apprehend any such trespassers and thieves, and at the date and time aforesaid he was engaged in the business for which he was employed by said defendant, and claimed and pretended to be searching for property alleged to have been taken from the possession of said defendant's company and for the persons who were charged with having taken or stolen such property, the particular complaint made at the time being that certain tubs of lard had been stolen from the defendant's freight car at or near Tilton in Whitfield county, which he pretended to have traced to the home of one Buckner where petitioner was at that time living.
"7. Petitioner shows that at the time that the said Hicks entered petitioner's home and bed-room in the manner hereinafter described he was without lawful warrant or authority to do so; that he had no search warrant to search the premises and no warrant to arrest any person in said home at the time, and that his entry into said home was therefore illegal and constituted a trespass against your petitioner; and in addition thereto that said home of petitioner was entered with unreasonable and unnecessary violence, with an unreasonable and unnecessary display of force and without any notice whatsoever to petitioner or the occupants of said home, without announcing his presence, his purpose, or his intentions, all of which was unreasonable and entirely unnecessary.
"8. That at the time petitioner was in a delicate state of health, being at the time in a pregnant condition, which had advanced beyond the five months period, and that the unlawful and violent entry into her home and into her bedroom as hereinbefore described awakened her suddenly, with a flashlight turned in her face and a pistol pointed towards her bed, produced such a condition of fright and terror that completely overcame your petitioner in addition to the foregoing her husband was sleeping in the bed with her, and he was forcibly by said Hicks dragged from the bed and from the room, without saying why and for what purpose the same was being done, and carried out of the house and out of the range of her vision.
"9. That by reason of said acts of the said defendant, acting by and through its agents and employer aforesaid, this petitioner suffered as hereinafter set forth.
"10. She shows that because of said fright and terror and such unlawful and violent invasion of her room she received such anervous shock that made her immediately ill to such an extent that it was necessary to have medical attention as quickly as same could be obtained; that it was necessary to carry her from her home in Whitfield county to her father's home in Gordon county, where she remained under the care of a physician until after the birth of her child on the seventh of November, 1924. That by reasons of the acts complained of on the part of the defendant and its agent as aforesaid, she was rendered a complete nervous wreck, from which she has never recovered and from which she will not recover for a long period of time, if ever, and she is advised and believes that said condition is permanent; and that by reason of the facts aforesaid she has suffered the most excruciating physical pain as well as mental agony; that since said occurrence she can not be left alone for any length of time; that at the slightest sound or noise she starts suddenly; that anything unusual in the way of a noise brings on a state of nervousness that prostrates her for a considerable length of time; it has been impossible for her to sleep as she did before this occurrence; by reason of her condition she wakes without apparent cause and becomes nervous, easily excited, until the happiness of life is destroyed; all of which has been caused by the unlawful and unauthorized acts of defendant, through its agents, as hereinbefore set forth.
"11. Petitioner shows that for days and weeks after said occurrence it required the combined efforts of physicians and nurses to prevent a miscarriage, and that by reason of this, she suffered great pain and anguish. Petitioner shows that as a result of the acts complained of and of the nervous shock which she suffered at the time, and by reason of said flashlight being flashed into her face suddenly, violently, and illegally as alleged, that her baby was affected thereby and was born with birth marks over each eye, red in color and of sufficient size to be observed by anybody, all of which is attributable to the acts of the defendant hereinbefore complained of, which will be permanent on said child and a source of humiliation, embarrassment and mortification, and will last as long as she or the child lives.
"That the petition sets forth no cause of action against this defendant, for the following reasons:
"(a) It appears from the petition that plaintiff seeks to recover damages for fright and mental shock unaccompanied by any injury or damage to her person or purse.
"(b) It appears from the petition that no physical injury was done plaintiff other than the alleged injury brought about as a result of fright; there is no allegation of any immediate personal injury to plaintiff. And to authorize a recovery of damages for physical injury resulting from fright, there must be alleged and proved that the defendant could or should have known that the act producing such injury would with reasonable certainty cause such result, and it must appear that the injuries resulted from such gross carelessness, coupled with a knowledge of the probable physical results, as amounted to wilful and reckless disregard of consequences, or that the fright was brought about by a deliberate and malicious intention on the part of the defendant to injure the plaintiff. There are no allegations in the petition that the fright was brought about by a deliberate and malicious intention on part of defendant to injure the plaintiff. Neither is there any allegation that the defendant did or could have known the condition of p...
