Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Farris & Co.

• Decision Date: 13 July 1933
• Court: Florida Supreme Court
• Parties: ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. v. FARRIS & CO.

149 So. 561

111 Fla. 412

ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. v. FARRIS & CO.

Florida Supreme Court, Division A.

July 13, 1933

Error to Circuit Court, Duval County; D. T. Gray, Judge.

Action by Farris & Company against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff in the civil court of record was affirmed by the circuit court, and defendant brings error.

Affirmed for amount of judgment less suggested remittitur in case plaintiff remits certain amount, otherwise judgment entered quashing judgment of affirmance; the judgment being stayed pending further proceedings for remittitur.

COUNSEL J. L. Doggett, of Jacksonville, for petitioner.

Long &amp Kelly, of Jacksonville, for respondent.

OPINION

DAVIS Chief Justice.

Respondent Farris & Co., a corporation, recovered judgment against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company in the sum of $298.62 which was the amount of the verdict of the jury, and in addition thereto 50 per centum per annum interest from December 12, 1928, the date upon which plaintiff's claim for damages had been declined by the railroad company. The case is now before us on a writ of certiorari awarded to bring up the judgment of the circuit court of Duval county, which affirmed the judgment of the civil court of record in which the case was tried.

The action was one for the recovery of damages against the railroad company for negligently injuring the plaintiff's live stock during transportation under a contract as to which there was no provision limiting the railroad company's liability as a common carrier. The shipper showed, by evidence sufficient to establish that fact when it was accepted and believed by the trial jury, that the live stock for which recovery was sought had been delivered to the carrier in good condition but had been delivered by the railroad company at the point of destination in bad condition. The shipment consisted of two hundred and fifty-four head of cattle loaded at Zolfo Springs and consigned to the plaintiff at Jacksonville. There was testimony that the cattle when loaded were in fair condition for range cattle, although they were not such as were entitled to be graded as prime fat cattle, or cattle of superior quality. When the cattle were unloaded at Jacksonville, sixteen of them were found dead, and it is for these sixteen that the claim was made.

Under the circumstances of this case, the burden was on the railroad company to show that the loss of the live stock sued for did not result from negligence on the part of the railroad company, or that the cause of the injury was within one of the excusatory exceptions recognized by law, or provided for by the terms of the contract. See Walton Land & Timber Co. v. L. & N. Ry. Co., 72 Fla. 66, 72 So. 485. The railroad company undertook to do this, and there was evidence offered that would have warranted such a finding, had the jury accepted it as true. But the jury found otherwise, and this court cannot say on a certiorari proceeding, after the verdict has been approved by the trial judge, and affirmed by the circuit court, which exercises appellate power over the trial court, that in affirming the judgment of the present record the circuit court did not proceed in accordance with the essential requirements of law. See Florida East Coast Railway Company v. Anderson, 148 So. 553, opinion filed May 23, 1933, decided at the January, 1933, term of this court [not yet published in State Reports].

The second count of plaintiff's declaration was to the effect that under the statutes of this state (sections 4581-4583, R G. S., sections 6646-6648, C. G. L.) it was the duty of the railroad company to pay plain...