Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Teague

Citations

• 117 Miss. 401
• 77 So. 302

Syllabus

<p>1. Telegraphs and Telephones. Failure to deliver message. Liability. Punitive damages.</p> <p>Where a telegraph company accepted a death message from the warden of the penitentiary to the mother of a deceased inmate, and charged an extra fee. for télephoning to the mother’s home, it was liable for punitive damages for wilfully failing to send the message promptly by a rival line, when it learned that its own connecting telephone line had been removed, where its acts resulted in the mother being unable to see the body of her son or arrange for his burial.</p> <p>2. Damages. Measure. Mental pain and suffering.</p> <p>Damages for mental pain and suffering .cannot be awarded as a result of simple negligence, but in cases of wilful wrong, especially those affecting the liberty, character, reputation, person- • al security, or domestic relations of the injured party, a recovery for mental suffering is proper.</p> <p>3. Telegraphs and Telephones. Failure to deliver message. Gross negligence. Question for jury.</p> <p>Where a telegraph company accepted a death message from the warden of the pententiary to the mother of a deceased inmate and charged an extra fee for telephoning to the mother’s home, but failed to transmit such message promptly by a rival line upon learning that its own connecting telephone line had been removed. It was a question for the jury as to whether the company was guilty of such gross negligence as amounted to wilfulness.</p> <p>4. Telephones and Telegraphs. Failure to deliver message. Liability. Where the failure to deliver a death message to the mother promptly prevented her from seeing her son’s body or arranging for his burial, this was an invasion of her rights, protected by law and if the result of a wilful wrong in failing to deliver such message, it warranted recovery of damages for mental suffering, though the issue of punitive damages was not submitted to the jury.</p> <p>5. Telegraphs and Telephones. Failure to deliver message. Liabilit