N. H. Blitch Co v. Atl. Coast Line R. Co.

• Citation: 69 S.E. 16,87 S.C. 107
• Parties: N. H. BLITCH CO. v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. et al. (two cases). BLITCH v. SAME. COMMINS v. SAME.
• Decision Date: 11 October 1910
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina

69 S.E. 16
(87 S.C. 107)

N. H. BLITCH CO.
v.
ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. et al. (two cases).
BLITCH
v. SAME.
COMMINS
v.
SAME.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Oct. 11, 1910.

1. Courts (§ 489^*)—Concurrent Jurisdiction—Interstate Commerce—Overcharges by Carriers—Presumptions.

There is no presumption that interstate carriers sued for overcharge for icing cars had filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission a schedule of freight rates, including icing charges, and that such rates were promulgated as required by the act, in the absence of allegations to that effect, so as to defeat the jurisdiction of a state court.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Courts, Dec. Dig. § 489.*]

2. Courts (§ 489*) — Concurrent Jurisdiction—Overcharges by Carriers.

The common-law right of a shipper to recover from a carrier for unjust and unreasonable charges for transporting freight, may be enforced in a. state court when not inconsistent with the enforcement of the interstate commerce act.

[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Courts, Dec. Dig. § 489.*]

Appeal from Common Pleas Circuit Court of Charleston County; Geo. E. Prince, Judge.

Actions by the N. H. Blitch Company, by N. H. Blitch, and by E. L. Commins against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company and another. From a judgment for the first-named plaintiff, defendants appeal. Affirmed.

T. Moultrie Mordecai and Mitchell & Smith, for appellants.

Legare, Holman & Baker, for respondents.

JONES, C. J. These four cases, involving the same question, were tried together by consent. The suits were brought to recover for alleged overcharges for icing the refrigerator cars in which plaintiffs during April, May, and June, 1906, made numerous shipments of vegetables over defendant's lines from Meggetts, S. C, to various markets in other states. The complaint set out in the record is very long, and contains a statement with reference to each shipment, but it will be sufficient to state the first mentioned as typical of the others. After alleging that the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company is a corporation both under the laws of South Carolina and Virginia, and that Armour Car Lines is a corporation under the laws of New Jersey and that plaintiff N. H. Blitch Co. is a domestic corporation, the complaint states:

"(5) That heretofore, on the 26th day of April, A. D. 1906, the plaintiff above named delivered to the defendants 200 crates of cabbage at Meggetts, S. C, which was received by the defendants for transportation to Boston, Mass., there to be...