St. Petersburg & Gulf Railway Co. v. Van Smith

The defendant in error obtained a judgment for $1,000.00 against the railway company for personal injuries and for injury to a mule and wagon received in a collision on the defendant’s street railway track, and the defendant took writ of error. A number of errors are assigned and argued, but it is necessary to discuss only one. There is no evidence which would *65warrant the infliction of punitive damages, yet the court charged the jury that if they find the “collision resulted from the gross carelessness and negligence on the part of the defendant’s servants and employees in propelling and…