56-477 - Special damages; mental anguish; damages not to be barred by regulations of company. - Virginia Statutes

§ 56-477. Special damages; mental anguish; damages not to be barred byregulations of company.

All telegraph companies in this Commonwealth shall be liable for specialdamages occasioned by the negligence of their operators or servants inreceiving, copying, transmitting, or delivering dispatches or messages, orfor the disclosure of the contents of any private dispatch or message to anyperson other than to him to whom it is addressed, or his agent. The amount ofsuch damages shall be determined by the jury upon the facts in each case.Grief and mental anguish occasioned to the plaintiff by such negligence maybe considered by the jury in the determination of the quantum of damages.

Special damages recoverable under this section shall not be barred byregulations of the company concerning the repeating of dispatches ormessages, or by any special undertaking to relieve the company from theconsequences of its own negligence.

(Code 1919, § 4051; 1989, c. 537.)