James Clark McReynolds

“ Rep. 805, the supreme court of Texas held the addressee of a message might recover damages of a telegraph company because of mere mental suffering. Subsequently the courts of Alabama, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, and Tennessee approved and enforced a like rule; those of Dakota, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, and West Virginia definitely rejected the innovation. ”

“ There was put in evidence a duly executed receipt for $64.17, 'being in full payment for one coffin delivered to Southern Express Company at Asheville, North Carolina, on April 1st, 1912, by John Byers, to be shipped to Sarah Moore, Hickory Grove, South Carolina;' and Byers testified that 'the Southern Express Company paid him for all the money he had paid out on the casket and other things contained in the shipment, but did not pay him anything for damages.' The bill of lading was also introduced. It specified no value and undertook to restrict the carrier's liability to $50. ”

“ In such circumstances as those presented here, the long-recognized common-law rule permitted no recovery; the decisions to this effect 'rest upon the elementary principle that mere mental pain and anxiety are too vague for legal redress where no injury is done to person, property, health, or reputation.' Cooley, Torts, 3d ed. ”