Jones v. Cortes

Citations

• 17 Cal. 487

Syllabus

<p>In an action for breach of a contract to convey plaintiffs from San Francisco to San Juan del Sur, in Nicaragua, plaintiff may recover not only the direct pecuniary loss resulting from the breach of the contract, but also damages for any fraudulent or oppressive conduct on the part of defendants, producing great bodily or mental suffering. The whole case should go to the jury, and damages be awarded commensurate with the injuries sustained.</p> <p>Under our system there is but one form of action, and the statute makes no distinction in matters of form between actions of contract and those of tort, and relief is administered without reference to the technical and artificial rules of the common law.</p> <p>All matters arising from and constituting part of the same transaction may be litigated in the same action. Every action, under our system, may be termed an action on the case, and any ground of relief which can be regarded as part of the caso may be included in the action.</p> <p>Under our system, a cause of action in tart may be united with a cause of action on contract, if the two causes of action arise out of the same transaction.</p> <p>Cases from New York cited to show that, although there as here the statute provides a claim for injuries to the person shall not bo joined w,ith a claim for injuries to character; yet if the facts of the whole case or transaction embrace an injury to the person, and also an injury to the character, then plaintiff may recover in one action for the compound injury.</p>