Dickerson v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Citations

• 114 Miss. 115
• 74 So. 779

Syllabus

<p>1. Appeal and Error. Law of case.</p> <p>Where a decision on a former appeal decided that the right of appeal was not barred by limitation, such decision becomes the law of the case and is binding on a retrial.</p> <p>:2. Telegraphs and Telephones. Contracts. Stipulations.</p> <p>Under a stipulation in a telegraph' blank declaring that the defendant company was made the agent of the sender without liability to forward any message, over the lines of any other company when necessary to reach its destination, where a, message was delivered to defendant for transmission from a point in Mississippi to a point in Alabama, such, contract was governed by the laws of Mississippi and Alabama and where defendant had a line reaching from the sending point to the point of destination, it was not entitled to deliver the message to another telegraph company as the agent for the sender, but was itself liable for nontransmission.</p> <p>3. Telegraphs and Telephones. Nondelivery. Damages. Punitive damages.</p> <p>Under the laws of both Mississippi and Alabama, the wilful and wanton neglect of a telegraph company in sending and delivering a message, authorizes the infliction of punitive damages but under the federal law, there can be no recovery of punitive damages, unless it is shown that the telegraph company either participated in the wrong of the servants or ratified the same,</p> <p>4. Courts. State laws. Applicability.</p> <p>A state cannot impose, by its statute or decisions, liability that would extend to conduct beyond the territorial limits of the state.</p> <p>5. Commerce. Interstate messages. Statute. Construction.</p> <p>The Act Cong, Feb. 4, 1887, ch. 104, 24 Stat. 379, as amended by Act June 19,1910, ch. 309, 36 Stat. 539, providing that all charges made for service rendered or to be rendered in the transportation of passengers or property and for the transmission of messages by telegraph, telephone or cable shall be just and reasonable, and every unjust and unreason