McMillan v. Western Union Telegraph Co.
Supreme Court of Florida
This case was decided by the Court En Banc. Writ of error to the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Statement. The plaintiffs in error brought an action in the Circuit Court for Escambia County against the defendant in error, in which the declaration alleges “that the defend ant was during the months of May and June, A. D. 1906, the owner of and was operating a public telegraph line between the city of Camden, in the State of Alabama, and the station of Pine Barren in the…
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This case was decided by the Court En Banc. Writ of error to the Circuit Court for Escambia County. Statement. The plaintiffs in error brought an action in the Circuit Court for Escambia County against the defendant in error, in which the declaration alleges “that the defend ant was during the months of May and June, A. D. 1906, the owner of and was operating a public telegraph line between the city of Camden, in the State of Alabama, and the station of Pine Barren in the State of Florida, and held itself out to the public as receiving, transmitting and delivering for hire telegraphic…
1Opinion of the Court
Cockrell, J.,
(after stating the facts.)—The wording of the message “We want some brick, when are you going to ship” addressed to a Brick Company clearly put the telegraph company on notice that a matter of real business concern to the addressee was involved, and that negligence in its transmission would probably result in considerable pecuniary loss. This being so, the chief question is do the allegations stricken from the declaration destroy this potential right to substantial damages ?
The fact that the sender of the message could put an end to the contract at any time might well prevent a…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Chipley v. AtkinsonSupreme Court of Florida · 1887
- Savannah, Florida & Western Railway Co. v. WillettSupreme Court of Florida · 1901
3Cited by4 opinions
- Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. PetersSupreme Court of Florida · 1916
- Florida East Coast Railway Co. v. PetersSupreme Court of Florida · 1919
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. RamseyCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1935
- Padgett v. Atlantic Coast Line RailroadSupreme Court of Florida · 1912