Case Name: McGHEE et al. v. McCARLEY
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1900-05-22
Citations: 103 F. 55
Docket Number: No. 763
Parties: McGHEE et al. v. McCARLEY.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter
Volume: 103
Pages: 55–61

Head Matter:
McGHEE et al. v. McCARLEY.
(Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.
May 22, 1900.)
No. 763.
Wkongeul Death — Punitive Damages — Alabama Statute.
Under the statutes of Alabama (Code, §§ 26, 27), the personal reprer sentative of a deceased minor child, in an action against the receivers of a railroad to recover for the death of his intestate through the wrongful act or negligence of defendants, or their servants, may recover punitive damages.
Pardee, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
On Rehearing.
Milton Humes and Paul Speake, for plaintiff in error.
H. K. White, for defendant in error.
Before PARDEE and McCORMICK, Circuit Judges, and PARLANCE, District Judge.

Opinion:
PARLANGE, District Judge.
This cause was fully stated when it was first passed upon by this court. See 91 Fed. 462. An application for rehearing having been made by the defendant in error, and the same having been granted, the cause has been fully reargued, and the court has again carefully considered it. The single error heretofore found by this court in the cause was that the trial court refused to charge the jury that only compensatory, and not punitive, damages were recoverable in the cause. On the first hearing of this cause the argument and the briefs treated very imperfectly, and in an unintentionally misleading manner, the matter of the statute law upon which this cause was based. Assisted by the argument and briefs on the rehearing, the court has carefully re-examined the point upon which it ordered this cause to be remanded, and has concluded that the statute law of Alabama permits a personal representative to recover punitive damages in such a cause as the one at bar, and that therefore it is not within the doctrine of Railway Co. v. Prentice, 147 U. S. 101, 13 Sup. Ct. 261, 37 L. Ed. 97. See, specially, Tiff. Death Wrongful Act, § 130, 154; also, Id. § 35. The court has also re-examined the other questions involved in this cause, and finds no error in the cause. It is therefore ordered that the former order of this court, reversing the judgment of the lower court and remanding this cause for a new trial, be, and the same is hereby, annulled and set aside. It is further ordered that the judgment of the lower court be, and the same is hereby, affirmed.