All persons operating telegraph or telephone lines or systems and doing business in this state, are hereby required to pay for all damages that may arise from the failure, refusal or neglect to transmit or to deliver, or from any delay in the transmission or the delivery, or from any error made in the transmission or the delivery of any message handled by them or offered them for transmission; and they may be sued either at the place where the message is to be delivered or at the place where the message is offered for transmission or at the domicile of such persons, at the option of the party bringing the suit.