Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R. Co.
| Citation | 615 F.2d 470 |
| Decision Date | 05 March 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-1311,79-1311 |
| Parties | 5 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 545 KAISER ALUMINUM & CHEMICAL CORPORATION, Appellant, v. ILLINOIS CENTRAL GULF RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit) |
Jerome W. Seigfreid, Edwards, Seigfreid, Runge & Leonatti, Mexico, Mo., for appellant; Louis J. Leonatti, Mexico, Mo., on brief.
Daniel M. Dibble, Lathrop, Koontz, Righter, Clagett, Parker & Norquist, Kansas City, Mo., for appellee; Karen M. Iverson, Alphonso H. Voorhees, Greenfield, Davidson, Mandelstamm & Voorhees, St. Louis, Mo., on brief.
Before ROSS and STEPHENSON, Circuit Judges, and McMANUS, District Judge. *
Appellant, Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation (Kaiser), instituted this action under the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C. § 20(11), to recover the value of 12 carloads of bauxite allegedly contaminated while in the custody of Illinois Central Gulf Railroad Company (ICG). Originally filed in the Circuit Court of Audrain County, Missouri, the cause was removed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The district court found that Kaiser failed to establish the delivery element of a prima facie case under the Carmack Amendment and accordingly denied Kaiser damages beyond the salvage value of the ore. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
Calcined refractory grade bauxite is the primary component used by Kaiser in the manufacture of refractory brick. Kaiser purchased the bauxite ore which is the subject of this suit through Philipp Brothers, an agent of the Guyana Bauxite Company, Ltd. of Guyana, South America, for delivery f. o. b. railcars at Mobile, Alabama.
By letter, Philipp Brothers notified ICG that the Bauxite, highly susceptible to contamination, would require clean, covered hopper cars, free of contaminants and suitable for transporting the ore. Although the letter referred to 13,000 metric tons of bauxite, the motor vessel Arrow Crane arrived at Mobile, Alabama on May 23, 1975, with 16,000 metric tons. Of this shipment, 4,272.158 metric tons were bound for Kaiser's plant at Mexico, Missouri, the balance being shipped to other refractory manufacturing companies.
The Alabama State Dock Authority, a public agency of the state of Alabama, wholly owned and operated the entire Mobile dock, storage area, equipment, and vehicles that were used in off-loading the motor vessel Arrow Crane and in loading the railcars and storing the ore. Both the dock personnel and Stanley Malabud, a representative of Philipp Brothers, testified that the area and the equipment used to load the railcars were clean, free of contaminants, and suitable for handling the bauxite. In addition, Malabud inspected the bauxite as the ship was unloaded. 1 He testified by deposition that the ore was uncontaminated. He also testified that he visually inspected all of the available railcars for contaminants, even though the railroad had been specifically requested to furnish clean cars on this occasion.
Fifty of the 63 railcars required to transport Kaiser's ore were available for immediate off-loading. These cars were loaded by the Alabama State Dock personnel, as was customary, and returned to the railroad on a designated joint interchange track approximately one mile from the actual loading site. Only one of these cars was rejected by Kaiser as contaminated with tripoli, a substance not found in Guyana.
After loading all available cars, Alabama dock personnel removed the remainder of the ore from the ship into dump trucks, deposited it for ground storage nearby on a concrete pad, and covered it with a plastic sheet. The dock employees, who were familiar with handling bauxite, meticulously cleaned the pad and equipment to accept this cargo.
Several days later, ICG informed Kaiser that the only cars then available were open top hoppers. Kaiser agreed to the use of the open hopper cars even though closed hopper cars are customarily used to transport bauxite. Consequently, the remainder of the ore was removed from the pad and shipped on May 31 and June 3, 1975, in 13 open hopper cars to Kaiser's plant at Mexico, Missouri.
Malabud neither inspected these cars nor supervised their loading. Of these cars, eight had visible contaminants. These cars were unloaded and the ore was placed in a segregated pile. By mutual agreement of the parties, three other cars which Kaiser suspected of having contaminants were not unloaded. Subsequent analysis by Kaiser indicated contamination to this bauxite by laminetic ore, vituminous coal, gibbsite, silicates, sulphates, iron ore and other oxides. These contaminants rendered the bauxite worthless to Kaiser.
From these facts the district court found that Kaiser failed to establish the requisite delivery element of a prima facie case of liability under the Carmack Amendment. 2 Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp v. Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, 468 F.Supp. 615, 618 (E.D.Mo.1979). This court is not at liberty to try a case de novo and must therefore give great deference to the factual findings of the district court. Brennan v. Maxey's Yamaha, Inc., 513 F.2d 179, 183 (8th Cir. 1975). Such findings may not, however, be upheld where they are unsupported by substantial evidence or proceed from an erroneous conception of the applicable law. Southern Illinois Stone Co. v. Universal Engineering, 592 F.2d 446, 451 (8th Cir. 1979). After careful consideration of the entire record we are left "with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." United States v. United States Gypsum Co., 333 U.S. 364, 395, 68 S.Ct. 525, 542, 92 L.Ed. 746 (1948). We are convinced that the district court's finding that Kaiser failed to establish delivery of the bauxite in good condition is clearly erroneous, and pursuant to Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, must be set aside.
The Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act, 3 49 U.S.C. § 20(11), codifies the common law rule that a carrier, although not an absolute insurer, is liable "for the full actual loss, damage, or injury" to goods transported by it. However, there is no liability if the carrier can affirmatively demonstrate "that the damage was caused by '(a) the act of God; (b) the public enemy; (c) the act of the shipper himself; (d) the public authority; (e) or the inherent vice or nature of the goods.' " Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Elmore & Stahl, 377 U.S. 134, 137, 84 S.Ct. 1142, 1144, 12 L.Ed.2d 194 (1964) (citations omitted). In an action to recover from a carrier for damage to a shipment, the consignee:
establishes his prima facie case when he shows delivery (to the carrier) in good condition, arrival in damaged condition, and the amount of damages. Thereupon, the burden of proof is upon the carrier to show both that it was free from negligence and that the damage to the cargo was due to one of the excepted causes relieving the carrier of liability.
Id. at 138, 84 S.Ct. at 1145 (citations omitted). Accordingly, "the carrier bears a heavy burden of proof akin to res ipsa loquitur because it has peculiarly within its knowledge the facts which may relieve it of liability." Fulton v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, 481 F.2d 326, 333 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1040, 94 S.Ct. 540, 38 L.Ed.2d 330 (1973).
ICG contends that Kaiser never established a prima facie case, so that it was never incumbent on the railroad to go forward with evidence rebutting Kaiser's prima facie showing by proving that it was free from negligence and that the contamination resulted from an excepted cause.
Kaiser's contention that it established the element of delivery in good condition is premised on (1) a bill of lading, (2) an admission by the freight claims director of the railroad, (3) the absence of cleaning records as to the railcars, (4) precautions taken by dock employees, (5) the appearance of the bauxite on delivery to the carrier, and (6) initial tests of the bauxite embodied in a certificate of analysis. We will deal with these items of evidence, seriatim.
On May 4, 1975, the ICG executed a bill of lading acknowledging receipt of the bauxite "in apparent good order." ICG contends that the bill of lading is ineffective to establish the element of delivery in good condition. This court rejected a similar argument in United States v. Mississippi Barge Line Co., 285 F.2d 381, 388-89 (8th Cir. 1960), holding that "A prima facie showing of delivery in good condition is made through a bill of lading, executed by the carrier, containing a recital to that effect." (Citations omitted). 4 ICG has advanced no sufficient or logical reason for us to reject this rule of law.
ICG urges that the liability of a carrier for cargo does not commence until the goods are delivered to it and that delivery was not effected until after the ore was loaded in its cars and subsequent to the issuance of the bill of lading. 5 ICG insists that because the dock authority loads the ore, any contamination prior to delivery would not be discernible by railroad employees. 6 Further, it contends that only the shipper's agent is in a position and had the expertise to note defects in the ore.
This argument is specious. It does not excuse the ICG's own negligence in issuing the bill of lading acknowledging receipt of the ore in apparent good order with no noted exceptions. The railroad accepted the cargo in apparent good order and had ample opportunity to either inspect the goods or note that it was unable to ascertain their condition on delivery. 7 Despite ICG's contentions that there was ample time, potential and opportunity for contamination before the ore was delivered to the railroad, it failed to sustain its burden of proving that it was not negligent and introduced no...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Brodersen v. Sioux Valley Memorial Hosp., C 93-4011.
...as affirmative proof of the nonoccurrence or nonexistence of a matter normally recorded." Kaiser Aluminum & Chem. Corp. v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R.R. Co., 615 F.2d 470, 476 (8th Cir.1980) (emphasis added). In Kaiser, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals applied that rule by first determining t......
-
M.I.S. Engineering v. U.S. Exp. Enterprises
...act of the shipper himself, public authority, or the inherent vice or nature of the goods."); Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Illinois Cent. Gulf R. Co., 615 F.2d 470, 474 (8th Cir.1980) ("[T]he burden of proof is upon the carrier to show both that it was free from negligence and that t......
-
Adama v. Doehler-Jarvis, Div. of NL Industries, Inc.
...of Aqua-Chem, Inc., 646 F.2d 1216 (C.A.8, 1981); Frank v. Bloom, 634 F.2d 1245 (C.A.10, 1980); Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corp. v. Illinois C.G.R. Co., 615 F.2d 470 (C.A.8, 1980), cert. den. 449 U.S. 890, 101 S.Ct. 249, 66 L.Ed.2d 116 (1980); Mahlandt v. Wild Canid Survival & Research Cente......
-
Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. v. Pruitt, Civ. No. K-93-2302.
...procedures in order to establish a prima facie case for delivery of goods in good condition. Fine Foliage, 901 F.2d at 1038; Kaiser Aluminum, 615 F.2d at 479. Ty Pruitt also relies, at least in part, on the Federal Bills of Lading Act, 49 U.S.C.A. § 101 which limits carrier liability for pr......