George M. Riley and his wife brought suit against the Wnightsville & Tennille Railroad Company and the Southern Railway Company, seeking to recover damages, which they laid at $30,000. By amendment George M. Riley was stricken from the case, leaving it to proceed in the name of Mrs. Riley. ' As amended, the allegations on which she sought to recover were sub
1. Three things were alleged by the plaintiff as being negligent or improper on the part of the defendants: (1) That “she was informed by the person who sold her said tickets that she would only have to wait ten or fifteen minutes at Empire for the train to take her to Macon, and that the defendants were negligent in that such information was furnished her.” (2) That “the defendants were negligent in that no train passed Empire within an hour after she reached said place.” (3). That the employee in charge of the waiting-room required her and her husband, with their children, to leave it before ten o’clock at night, and before the arrival of the Southern Railway train, causing her to be exposed to inclement weather.
As to the first ground stated, in order to charge the defendants or either of them with negligence, if there was any, because certain information was given to the plaintiff, it was necessary that it should appear that the person who furnished it represented them or one of them. It was alleged in the original petition that Mr. and Mrs. Riley purchased two tickets from Dublin to Macon over the lines of the defendants; but there was no allegation as to whom they purchased the tickets from, whether the agent of one of the defendants, or of the other, or of both, or of neither. It was not even alleged that they were purchased at the ticket-office, of either of the defendants.
The second ground stated above, taken alone, evidently set out no negligence which would form basis for recovery. The mere fact that no train passed the junction point within an hour after a passenger reached it over another road was not ipso facto negligence on the part of either company.
If the petition set forth any right to recover, it must rest on the third ground above indicated, namely, the requiring of the plaintiff, with her husband and two children, to leave the waiting-room, in the dark, and closing and locking it up before ten o’clock at night, and before the arrival of the connecting train to await which she had been shown into the waiting-room, there being an
Tn some of the States there are statutes on the subject of keeping open waiting-rooms. Most of these have reference to waiting-rooms at stations where the traveller begins or ends his journey, are for the benefit of travellers entering or leaving trains at those points, and deal with such a situation rather than with a waiting-room at a junction, for "through passengers. The act of 1906 (Acts 1906, p. 101) was passed shortly after the occurrence involved in this suit, and therefore need not be considered. In the absence of a special law on the subject, the general rule is that a railroad company may make reasonable rules in regard to its depots and waiting-rooms. A person going to a station has no absolute right to require the waiting-room to be kept open and in comfortable condition for passengers an unreasonable length of time before that fixed for the departure of the train, nor to use the room for lying down and sleeping. Central Ry. Co. v. Motes, 117 Ga. 923 (43 S. E. 990, 62 L. R. A. 507, 97 Am. St. R. 223); Brown v. Georgia, C. & N. Ry. Co., 119 Ga. 88 (46 S. E. 71) ; Phillips v. Southern Ry. Co., 124 N. C. 123 (32 S. E. 388, 45 L. R. A. 163). It will be observed that the two cases last cited involved taking a train at a starting point, not waiting at a junction, by a passenger over two roads; and the suit in the Brown case was also held to be for a breach of contract as to passage on a particular train. In St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co. v. Foster, 112 S. W. 797) the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas held that where a railroad company sold through tickets from a point on one of its lines to a point on another, and the passengers had to wait at a junction, in making necessary changes, from one train to another, they were still its passengers and entitled tb remain in the waiting-room until the arrival of their train. This differed from the present case in that the two lines were those of the same company. But the opinion discusses the difference between initial points and junctions, and persons entering on their journey and through passengers. In Phillips v. Southern Ry. Co. supra, this distinction was recognized by Furches, J., who said: “The rule would probably ho different in the case of through passengers and in case of delayed trains; but, if so, these would be exceptions, not the rule.” If the contention of each of the defendants were sustained, the re-
As against the general demurrer, the petition set out a cause of action. Some of the grounds of the special demurrers were met by amendments; others were not.
2. It was alleged that the plaintiff purchased a ticket from Dublin to Macon. By special demurrer she was called on to state from whom she bought it; but she declined, or at least failed, to do so. Nevertheless in the brief of her counsel in this court this was treated as a good allegation that she bought it from the Wrightsville & Tennille Railroad Company, and it was sought to invoke, as against that company, the ruling in Central R. Co. v. Combs, 70 Ga. 533 (48 Am. R. 582), and Georgia Southern R. Co. v. Pearson, 120 Ga. 286 (47 S. E. 904), to the effect, that, “whatever may be the law in other jurisdictions, in this State a railroad company which sells and issues to a passenger a ticket for his transportation over its own line of road and the lines of other railroad companies is liable for his safe and sure transportation to the point of destination.” This ruling does not accord with the view taken by a number of courts. Under such a general allegation, it might be possible to show that the ticket was sold by one of the defendants, or the other, or by a joint agent, or was purchased from a third party. Why should each of the defendants be put to the trouble and expense of having testimony ready to meet the possible contention
3. Again, she alleged that the person who required her to leave the waiting-room was “the employee in charge of such waiting-room.” The special demurrer made the point that this was not a sufficient allegation as to whose employee he was claimed to be. There were four possible lines of contention along which the plaintiff might proceed under such an allegation: that the person causing her to leave the room was an employee of the Wrightsville & Tennille Eailroad Company, for whose tort it was liable; that he was an employee of the Southern Eailway Company, for whose tort it was liable; that he was the employee of both defendants; or that, whether actually employed by one or the other, under the joint management of the waiting-room, he represented both and acted for both in connection therewith. If there was a tort, it was committed by this person, and certainly the defendants were entitled to know what the plaintiff’s contention was on that subject, so as
4, 5. Again, the plaintiff alleged that she had to wait .“several hours” for the Southern Bailway train. The demurrers called for some idea as to what was meant by “several.” The plaintiff may not know the exact time, but she must know approximately whether she means three or four, ten or twelve, or eighteen or twenty hours. At least she showed no reason why she could not be more specific. The presiding judge sustained this, ground of demurrer, and we hold that he did not err. Whether this point was of such material^ as to have required a reversal, if he had declined to dismiss the case on account of it alone, is not in question. The other grounds of the demurrer were cured by amendment, or were not such as to require discussion.
Counsel for plaintiff in error in his brief requested, that, if this court should hold that the presiding judge erred in sustaining the general demurrer, but that one or more grounds of special demurrer were well taken, direction should be given that he have the privilege of amending to meet such grounds. The presiding judge sustained the grounds of the demurrers generally, thus including both the general and special grounds. More than two years have elapsed since the transaction complained of occurred, and if the dismissal shoirld be affirmed, the bar of the statute might have attached. In view of the facts of the ease, we think it a proper one for the exercise of the directory power of this court, to reverse the ruling on the general demurrer, affirm the ruling sustaining the grounds of special demurrer above indicated, and direct that the plaintiff be given a reasonable opportunity to amend so as to meet such grounds, before the case shall be dismissed.
6. The clerk of the superior court included in the transcript of the record the answers of the two defendants. The ease was
Judgment reversed, with direction.