Gatta v. Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad Co.

Citations

• 24 Del. 293
• 1 Boyce 293
• 76 A. 56
• 1910 Del. LEXIS 35

Syllabus

<p>Commencement of Actions—Summons—Declaration—Amendment of Declaration—New Cause of Action—Statute— of Limitations—Amendment of Parties—Negligence —Evidence—Injuries to Person on Railroad Track.</p> <p>1. Subject to exceptions, an action is commenced by filing with the Prothonotary a petition, directing him to issue a summons for the defendant, appropriate to the proposed action, disclosing the form but not the cause of action.</p> <p>2. A summons, appropriate to the proposed action, does not contain, as did the original writ, a statement of the cause of action; and when served the defendant is not thereby apprised of the cause of action, and not until the plaintiff files his declaration as required b y rules of Court.</p> <p>3. Secs. 11 and 15 Chap. 112, Rev. Code, 849 and 850, and Art. 4, Sec. 24, Const., allowing amendments of the form of action and of any pleadings or proceeding in form or substance, are liberally construed and applied by the Court.</p> <p>4. The practice of permitting the declaration to be amended after the statute of limitations has run, is unbroken. The statute runs from the time of the accruing of the cause of action to the time of beginning the action, and not after beginning the action.</p> <p>5. At common law a mistake in the form of action brought was serious, due probably to the fact that the original writ by which the defendant was brought into court, unlike the summons herein, contained a statement of the cause of action to which the defendant was summoned particularly to reply.</p> <p>6. The principal purpose of the summons, appropriate to the proposed action, here is to compel the appearance of the defendant in Court to answer the demand to be shown afterwards in the declaration.</p> <p>7. The running of the statute of limitations against the cause of action is arrested by bringing the action.</p> <p>8. If an action is brought in time, the statute of limitations cannot be invoked in bar of the action set forth in the original decla