Wilkins v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Citations

• 68 Miss. 6

Syllabus

<p>1. Telegraph Companies. Inaccurate transmission. Statutory penalty. Act of March 18, 1886.</p> <p>This act (Laws 1886, p. 18), entitled “An act to require telegraph companies to deliver messages within a reasonable time,” and which imposes, in addition to other damages, a penalty of $25 'against any telegraph company that “shall neglect, fail, or refuse to transmit and deliver within a reasonable time, without good and sufficient excuse, any message,” etc., was intended to insure promptness, and not accuracy, of transmission. It has no application to cases of erroneous transmission.</p> <p>2. Same. Recovery of statutory penalty. Res judicata.</p> <p>The statutory penalty of $25 provided by said act is not part of an entire demand for damages, and its recovery in a separate suit therefor will not bar an action for other damages growing out of the neglect or failure of the telegraph company to transmit and deliver the same message.</p>