Ayer v. Western Union Telegraph Company
Facts
The plaintiff, a Bangor lumber dealer, sent a telegram through the defendant offering to sell 800M laths at "two ten net cash," but the word "ten" was omitted in transmission, so the Philadelphia correspondent received an offer at $2.00 per M. The correspondent immediately accepted by telegram, and later letters revealed the transmission error. About two weeks after the error was discovered, the plaintiff shipped the laths at $2.00 per M because the correspondent insisted he was entitled to them at that price. The defendant had charged the regular tariff, the message was unrepeated, and the defendant offered no explanation for the mistake.
Issue
Whether a telegraph company may enforce a printed stipulation limiting liability for negligence in transmitting an unrepeated message to the amount paid for transmission, and whether the sender's damages are limited to that fee because he was not bound by the erroneous message delivered to the receiver.
Rule
A telegraph company, as a quasi public servant, cannot validly stipulate against liability for its own negligence in transmitting messages. Where an innocent sender chooses the telegraph as the means of communication, and the receiver in good faith has no reason to suspect error, the message as delivered to the receiver governs as between sender and receiver, and the sender may recover from the telegraph company the loss caused by the erroneous transmission.
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If Nora sues Pine Coast Telegraph for the price difference caused by the mistaken transmission, which result is most consistent with the governing rule?