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88 Tenn. 721

Railway Co. v. Daughtry

Tennessee Supreme Court

Decided May 1, 1890

Tennessee Supreme Court · decided 1890-05-01

FROM DYER. Appeal in error from Circuit Court of Dyer County. T. J. Elippin, J. Action brought by R. S. Daughtry, administrator of John W. Daughtry, deceased, against the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingham Railroad Company and the Kansas City, Port Scott and Memphis Railroad Company for the negligent killing of his intestate. The case was dismissed as to tbe first named company, and there was verdict and judgment for $8,000 against the latter named company.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1890-05-01

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently May 1945

1 state decisions

20189019001910192019301940decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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TurNEY, Ch. J.

¶1The first nine assignments of error are based on the failure of the Court to give in charge requests made before the Court had chai’ged the jury. Under our rule there was no error in the refusal.

¶2It was not error to allow the jury to assess exemplary damages. This question was directly raised and decided in Haley v. Mobile and Ohio *723Railroad Company, 7 Bax., 242. In that case the Circuit Judge instructed the jury that “if plaintiff’s intestate was killed by defendants, and died instantly, no vindictive or exemplary damages could be recovered.” Chief Justice Deaderick, .after a full review of the cases of this and other States, concludes: “We are of opinion that the charge of the Court complained of was erroneous as given, and if the elements of fraud, malice, gross negligence, or oppression existed in the case, whether death was instantaneous or not, exemplary damages might he recovered.” This ruling has been followed for sixteen years, and we see no reason to disturb it. It is sound and just.

¶3We have passed upon the question of removal to the Federal Court in a case just disposed of with very similar facts —Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad v. Hendricks, Administrator. The other matters assigned do not constitute reversible error.

¶4Affirmed.

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