The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-04
TELEGRAPH co. TO BLAME.
DECLARED LIABLE FOR LOSSES on
ACCOUNT OF FAKE QUOTATIONS.

I anu Oh Nht
Toe opinion of Charlton, MaekaH & An
! derson. 10 whom The directors of the Sa-
/ vannah Cotton Exchange referred the
! question Of liability for the loss to ITS
| members on account of recent incorrect
Liverpool quotations on futures furnished
| BY the Western Union Telegraph Company
| and The Gold and Stock Company, New
York, was handed TO President Henry T.
| Williams yesterday afternoon.
! The opinion was posted. but its
rather voluminous character did not
/ fully invite the Derusai Of mem
hers. The point Of the opinion.
which is that the attorneys consider the
/ telegraph company liable for an losses,
! was generally understood soon after the
/ opinion was posted, ana this was what the
members wanted to know.
/ The ques ions upon which the attorneys
were asked 10 give an opinion were wheth-
/ er The Gotten Exchange has any means Of
redress for the losses Of its members, and
whether the Exchange itself is liable in
/ any way FOR the losses Of members who
/ operated on the fraudulent quotations. Tie
/ opinion is that the telegraph company is
/ bound under The Jaw 10 furnish correct
/ quotations. and that it should use proper
! care giving them accurately, and to repeat
/ them if necessary. The company's con-
! tract. with The Exchange binds it to fur
/ nlsh correct reports. The fact that an err
! ror existed in the report as it was receiv-
| ed by the Gold and Stock Company, with
/ which the Exchange has a contract, does
! not relieve the company. The Exchange
| cannot be charged with contTibutory neg
| ligence, as 1t called for a confirmation
while The reports were being received.
The opinion advises that the Exchange
| has a right of action. Referring to its la
bihty to members the opinion says the con-
| tract with the telegraph company was for
The benefit of members, and that their
remedy as individuals is against the COM
pany.
The opinion as copied in fun from the
boards in the Cotton Exchange. is as fol-
lows:
'"The points on which our views were de-
| sired we understand to be the following:
| (a) Has the exchange itself any means Of
! redress under the circumstances. (b) Is
there any liability resting upon the ex-
| change 10 those of its members who made
| transactions based upon the quotations as
| furnished and posted upon the board of
the exchange, and who sustained loss
thereby"
Ordinarily. a telegraph company is not
an Insurer under all circumstances of the
| accuracy and correctness of the messages
| II transmits and delivers, though in Geor-
| gia our Supreme Court has gone very far
| In that direction, holding that the COM
! pany must at its peril see to it that mes
sages are sent and delivered without al
| teratlon, and that if to be accurate in the
| discharge of its duty requires the respeak-
| ing of the message the company should
do so itself; and suggest that nothing
would excuse the company except sud
| den interference and natural disturbance.
where however, telegraph company
enters into a special contract to furnish
market reports, quotations, etc, il in
sUIes the correctness of the intelligence
it receives fer information, as we'll as the
/ correctness with which the communication
| itself Is made. In such cases il becomes
liable to it's patrons for all damages oc-
casioned through the furnishing of incor-
| rect information by it, and that whether
the error occurred in the transmission or
existed in the information as originally
received it. The measure of damages is
held by the decisions of our American
courts to be the difference between the
actual market price and the price as
stated in the erroneous report furnished.
| 1t would also include the expenses in
cured by the patrons of the company in
attempting to protect themselves against
loss on the discovery of the error in the
reports.
CONTRACTS of this class are stated by a
leading text writer to be of two kinds
| a Contracts IN which telegraph COM
pany insures the correctness of the intelli-
gence which il delivers, and ~ contract
in which a telegraph company insures sim
ply the correctness with which the COM
munication of the intelligence it receives
is made
IN the present case there is a contract
between the exchange under which the
Gold and Stock Telegraph Company I'M
dertalxes to furnish the exchange with the
daily Liverpool quotations among others.
This contract, therefore, binds the COM
pany to obtain correct informal ton and
TO deliver it correctly, The contract con-
tains a clause THAT the telegraph COM
pany wiz furnish as correct quotations,
reports and statistics as can be obtained
by the employment of experienced report
ers, but il will not be pecuniarily RESPONSE
bic for the accuracy of the same, nor for
| omissions in the service" This apparent
restriction or limitation of the liability of
the company is of no avail as against
negligence on the part Of itself or any Of
ms agents or employees. for it has been
| informally held by the. courts of this coun-
try in the case of telegraph companies,
as in the case of railways, that it is con-
trary to public policy to allow them to
limit The liability for damages arising from
Their own negligence. There can be no
/ question IN NlllS case llltl llle errors COHl-
mitted could only have arisen through neg
ligence on the part of the company or its
agents Nor can the exchange be charg-
ed with coutributary negligence, for dur
ing The reception of the reports the ex-
change caled the attention of the com
pany 10 them. and asked to have their
correctness confirmed which was done.
This alone was sufficient 70 put Che COM
p0ny ON notice and to charge it with the
duty of discovering any error that might
sxlst in The reports it was furnishing.
owe are, therefore, of the opinion that
the exchange itself has a right OF action
in this case, and that it is entitled to
all damages it may have sustained be-
cause Of the erroneous quotations fur
nished to it. 1t is not restricted merely TO
money losses, but is entitled to be COM
pensated for any damage directly caused
by the breach of contract which Il can
show TO have a money value, and capa-
BILE Of being computed in money