Case Name: Carrier Lumber & Mfg. Co. v. Mrs. A. P. Boxley, et al.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1912-10
Citations: 103 Miss. 489
Docket Number: 
Parties: Carrier Lumber & Mfg. Co. v. Mrs. A. P. Boxley, et al.
Judges: 
Reporter: Mississippi Reports
Volume: 103
Pages: 489–490

Head Matter:
Carrier Lumber & Mfg. Co. v. Mrs. A. P. Boxley, et al.
[60 South. 645.]
1. Action for Damages. Exemplary damages. Appeal and error. Record.
In an action for the death of an employee, where the evidence showed that he was on top of a car of logs with other workmen, under the direction of the- foreman, attempting to unload the logs, when they slipped and began to roll, and threw him to the ground, a log falling upon him crushing his skull, and causing instant death, an instruction denying punitive damages was properly given.
2. Appeal and Error. Record. Brief of ■counsel. Discrepancy.
Where on appeal to the Supreme Court the briefs of counsel and the record differ as to the form in which a verdict was rendered in the. court below, the court will be governed by the record.
Appeal from the circuit court of Panola county.
Hon. N. A. Taylor, Judge.
Suit by Mrs. A. P. Boxley and others against the Carrier Lumber & Manufacturing Company. From a judgment for plaintiff defendant appeals.
Appellees, the mother, brothers, and sisters of G. H. Boxley, deceased, brought suit against the appellant for the sum of twenty thousand dollars for the death of the deceased, who, at the time of his death, was an employee of the appellant, engaged in unloading logs from a log train under the direction of the foreman. He was on top of a ear of logs with other workmen, under the direction of the foreman, attempting to unload the logs, when they slipped and began to roll, and threw him, to the ground, a log rolling upon him, crushing his skull, and causing instant death.
On the trial, the court instructed the jury, at the request of the defendant, that, if they should find for plaintiffs,. they could only award actual and compensatory damages as shown by the evidence, but that they could allow nothing by way of punitive damages. The jury returned a verdict of six thousand eight hundred dollars, and from a judgment for this amount this appeal is prosecuted.
T. Brady, Jr., and Herman Dean, attorneys for defendant.
L. L. Pearson, Julian Wilson and W. C. McLean, attorneys for appellee.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
We find no reversible error in this record. The facts of the case do not warrant the imposition of punitive damages, and the jury was instructed by the court not to award such.
Counsel for appellant in their brief state that this instruction of the court was violated by the' jury, and that it awarded punitive damages; its verdict being in the following language: "We, the jury, find for the plaintiff eight hundred dollars impunity damages and six thousand dollars expectancy^-total, six thousand eight hundred dollars. " This statement in brief of counsel for appellant is not denied in the briefs filed on behalf of appellee. An examination of the record, however, does not disclose that any such verdict was, in fact, rendered. The only place in the record wherein the verdict is set forth is in the judgment of the court, and it there appears as follows: "We, the jury, find for the plaintiff in the sum of six thousand eight hundred dollars. " As we must be governed by the record, and not by the briefs of counsel, we are not called upon to decide the question thus presented to us.
Affirmed.