Spellman v. Richmond &c. Railroad

Citations

• 35 S.C. 475
• 14 S.E. 947
• 1892 S.C. LEXIS 197

Syllabus

<p>1. Pleadings — Exemplary Damages. — Every cause of action is referable to a class and must be properly pleaded. And so, whether the damages claimed are actual or exemplary must be stated in the complaint, and to the damages as stated the testimony must be confined and the jury restricted. Exemplary damages are proper where the invasion of the rights of a person is characterized by violence, fraud, malice, wantonness, or reckless disregard of social or civil rights.</p> <p>2. Exemplary Damages. — The matter of exemplary damages in actions of tort stated — its history and development and its definition and illustration by text writers and decisions.</p> <p>3. Ibid. — Common Carriers. — The law of exemplary damages as against an individual and a corporation is the same, but the duty due by common carriers to passengers imposes a liability for the wilful wrong of a servant done in the course of his employment, where such liability may not attach in other cases; and the right to such damages may bo affected by the contributory negligence of plaintiff.</p> <p>4. Ibid. — Jury.—In action to recover exemplary damages for ejecting a passenger from a railroad train, and under the evidence in the case, the trial judge did not err in submitting the issue of exemplary damages to the jury, nor in charging that plaintiff would be entitled to punitive damages if there was a wilful invasion of his rights, and he was ejected wilfully or without just excuse on the part of the conductor, with malice or unnecessary harshness.</p> <p>5. Evidence. — The complaint alleged that plaintiff’s ticket had been extended in time under authority of a letter from C, defendant's division passenger agent, and t-ho answer admitted that there had been an agreement to extend as alleged. Plaintiff testified that the station ticket-agent asked him if he had not a letter from C, and that plaintiff then presented this letter, whereupon such station agent changed the date of the limit on the ticket. Held, t