Case Name: STATE v. ORANGE & N. W. R. CO.
Court: Texas Courts of Civil Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1913-01-27
Citations: 154 S.W. 335
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE v. ORANGE & N. W. R. CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter
Volume: 154
Pages: 335–335

Head Matter:
STATE v. ORANGE & N. W. R. CO.
(Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Galveston.
Jan. 27, 1913.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 13, 1913.)
1. Appeal and Error (§ 78 ) — Final Judgment-Dismissal on Demurrer.
A judgment sustaining a general demurrer to plaintiff’s petition and dismissing the suit is final and appealable.
[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Cent. Dig. §§ 426, 464-483; Dec. Dig. § 78. ]
2. Appeal and Error (§ 374 ) — Action by State — Bond—Necessity.
Where the state instituted suit against a railroad company to recover a penalty for its failure to construct proper toilets at a certain station, that the statute provides that the district attorney shall receive one-fourth of the recovery, and that the remainder shall be paid into the road and bridge fund of the county in which the suit is brought, did not make the district attorney and the county parties to the suit in such a sense as to require an appeal bond on an appeal by the state.
[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Cent. Dig. §§ 2005-2010; Dee. Dig. § 374. ]
Appeal from District Court, Newton County; W. B. Powell, Judge.
Action by the State against the Orange & Northwestern Railroad Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals.
Reversed and remanded.
V. S. McKee, of Newton, E. A. Cheatham, of Orange, and J. F. Lanier, of Beaumont, for appellant. Holland & Holland, of Orange, for appellee.
For other cases see same topic ana section NUMBER in Dec. Dig. & Am. Dig. Key-No. Series & Rep’r Indexes

Opinion:
McMEANS, J.
This suit was brought by the appellant, the state of Texas, to recover from appellee, the Orange & Northwestern Railroad Company, penalties for the failure of appellee to erect and maintain water-closets or privies in, or within a reasonable and convenient distance from, its depot at Bleakwood, a station on its line of railway, for the accommodation of its passengers who are received on and discharged from its trains, or its patrons and employés who have business with defendant thereat. A general demurrer to plaintiff's petition was sustained, and the court dismissed its suit, and from the judgment of dismissal plaintiff has prosecuted this appeal.
The petition contained the same allegations as the petition in the case of the State of Texas v. Jasper & Eastern Railroad Co., 154 S. W. 331, this day decided and in which this court held that the trial court erred in sustaining a general demurrer to the plaintiff's petition, and set' out at length the reasons upon which our conclusions were based. For the reasons therein given, but which will not be repeated here, we hold that the court erred in sustaining the general demurrer urged by defendant to plaintiff's petition, and for this error the judgment of the court below is reversed and the cause remanded.
Appellee in this case contends that, where a general demurrer to plaintiff's petition is sustained and his suit dismissed, the judgment of dismissal is not a final judgment from which an appeal will lie. Appellee further contends that this court is without jurisdiction to entertain this appeal, because no appeal bond was given by appellant, and contends in this connection that the article of the statute by virtue of which the suit was brought provides that the district or county attorney shall receive one-fourth of the recovery, and the remainder shall be paid into the road and bridge fund of the county in which the suit is brought, and that this shows conclusively that the parties at interest are the district and county attorneys and the county of Newton, and that before they are entitled to prosecute an appeal they should be required to file a proper appeal bond. These contentions are wholly without merit, and are overruled without further comment.
Reversed and remanded.