Shawnee Milling Co. v. Postal Telegraph-Cable Co.

Citations

• 101 Kan. 307
• 166 P. 493
• 1917 Kan. LEXIS 82

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Telegram — Dictated Over Telephone — Nature of Contract — Error in Transmission — Liability. Where a telegraphic message is dictated over a telephone and is thus received by a telegraph company for transmission it will not be presumed that any preferential or discriminatory service in violation of law is intended, and the message will be considered as if it were written on the ordinary blank forms furnished by the telegraph company, and the company’s liability for an error in transmission is neither greater nor less nor different than if the message were delivered in the usual and more formal mode of sending telegrams.</p> <p>2. Same — Intrastate Business — Contract Limiting Liability. In conducting its intrastate business a telegraph company may make reasonable stipulations limiting its liability, but in the absence of positive or permissive statutes governing the subject, the reasonableness of any such stipulation is a question for judicial determination.</p> <p>S. Same — A stipulation limiting a telegraph company’s liability in damages for an error in transmission of a telegram to a mere return of the rate Exacted for sending it is unreasonable. '</p> <p>4. Telegram — Partly, in Code ■ — ■ Liability for Error in Transmission. Where a telegram is partly in code, but bears enough plain English on its face to apprise the telegraph company that it is a business message, and the company’s manager in charge where the telegram was received knew it was a business message, although he did not know its details, the company was charged with sufficient notice of its importance and with notice that a failure to transmit the message correctly would probably lead to consequential damages, and the telegraph company is liable therefor.</p> <p>5. Same. The damages attendant on a failure to transmit a business message examined and held to be certain and proximate, and that a recovery can be had thereon.</p>