Edward Douglass White, Atlantio Railway Company v. Laird…
“ If the cause of complaint be for an act of omission or nonfeasance, which, without proof of a contract to do what has been left undone, would not give rise to any cause of action (because no duty apart from contract to do what is complained plained of exists) , then the action is founded upon contract, and not upon tort. ”
Edward Douglass White, Atlantio Railway Company v. Laird…
“ It is urged by the plaintiff in error that as the complaint, after alleging that the defendants jointly owned and operated the line of road in question, and jointly committed the alleged negligent acts, charged that they together 'were a common carrier of passengers on said road,' such allegation must be construed as an averment that the defendants were a single company, and that it cannot be assumed that one or the other, by itself, had capacity to violate any duty of a common carrier of passengers, or that either had power to sue or be sued separately, and alone from the other. ”
Edward Douglass White, Atlantio Railway Company v. Laird…
“ As, therefore, in an action against joint tort feasors recovery may be had against one, it follows that allegations alleging a joint relationship and the doing of negligent acts jointly are divisible, and that a recovery may be had where the proof establishes the connection of but one of the defendants with the acts averred. ”
