Case Name: CURTIN v. WESTERN UNION TEL. CO
Court: New York City Court
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1895-11-26
Citations: 36 N.Y.S. 1111
Docket Number: 
Parties: CURTIN v. WESTERN UNION TEL. CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 36
Pages: 1111–1111

Head Matter:
(14 Misc. Rep. 459.)
CURTIN v. WESTERN UNION TEL. CO.
(City Court of New York,
General Term.
November 26, 1895.)
Telegraph Companies—Damages eor Failure to Transmit a Message.
In an action against a telegraph company for failure to transmit a message promptly, damages which could not have been within the contemplation of the parties at the time of sending the message cannot be recovered.
Action by Maggie Curtin against Western Union Telegraph Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.
Beversed.
Argued before FITZSIMONS and CONLAN, JJ.
Bush Taggart, for appellant.
Lyman W. Bedington, for respondent.

Opinion:
CONLAN, J.
Appeal from a judgment entered on the decision of the court without a jury. Aside from the question of defendant's negligence, the damages found by the trial judge could not have been within the contemplation of the parties at the time of sending the dispatch, and are therefore not the proximate result of defendant's breach of its obligation to transmit promptly.
The judgment should be reversed, and a new trial ordered, with costs to abide the event.