Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Riverside Mills

• Decision Date: 03 January 1911
• Docket Number: No. 215,215
• Parties: ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. RIVERSIDE MILLS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

219 U.S. 186

31 S.Ct. 164

55 L.Ed. 167

ATLANTIC COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v RIVERSIDE MILLS.

No. 215

Argued October 19, 20, 1910.

Decided January 3, 1911.

This was an action to recover the value of goods received by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at a point on its line in the state of Georgia for transportation to points in other states. The agreed statement of facts showed that the goods were safely delivered by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to connecting carriers, and were lost while in the care of such carriers, and the question is whether the initial carrier is liable for such loss.

The stipulated facts showed that the goods were tendered to the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and through bills of lading demanded therefor, which were duly issued, as averred, on the dates named in the petition. That the goods so received were forwarded over the lines of the receiving road and in due course delivered to a connecting carrier engaged in interstate shipment for continuance of the transportation. It was also stipulated 'that the Riverside Mill made constant and frequent shipments over the Atlantic Coast Line, and had a blank form of receipt, like the attached, marked 'A,' which the Riverside Mill filled out, showing what goods it had loaded into cars, and the name of the consignee; said receipt containing a stipulation that the shipment is 'per conditions of the company's bill of lading,' and that the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, on said receipts prepared by the Riverside Mill, issued, for each of the shipments hereinbefore referred to, bills, of lading on forms like that attached, marked exhibit 'B."

Upon the reverse side of the bill of lading were certain conditions, one of which was that 'no carrier shall be liable for loss or damage not occurring on its portion of the route.' The tenth clause thereof was in these words:

'This bill of lading is signed for the different carriers who may engage in the transportation, severally, but not jointly, each of which is to be bound by and have the benefits of the provisions thereof, and in accepting this bill of lading the shipper, owner, and consignee of the goods, and the holder of the bill of lading, agree to be bound by all its stipulations, exceptions, and conditions, whether printed or written.'

The court below, upon this state of facts, instructed a verdict for the plaintiff, upon which there was judgment for the amount of the verdict, and, upon motion of the plaintiff, an attorney's fee of $100 was ordered to be taxed as part of the costs in the case. Thereupon error was assigned, and this writ of error sued out by the railroad company.

Messrs. Joseph R. Lamar, Benjamin D. Warfield, Charles H. Moorman, and Henry Lane Stone for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 188-192 intentionally omitted] Assistant to the Attorney General Kenyon, Attorney General Wickersham, John Maynard Harlan, and Lewis W. McCandless as amici curice.

Messrs. Alexander Akerman, Charles Akerman, and R. J. Southall for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 193 intentionally omitted] After making the above statement, Mr. Justice Lurton delivered the opinion of the court:

The goods of the defendants in error were lost by a connecting carrier to whom they had been safely delivered. Though received for a point beyond its own line, and for a point on the line of a succeeding carrier, there was no agreement for their safe carriage beyond the line of the plaintiff in error, but, upon the contrary, an express agreement that the initial carrier should not be liable for 'a loss or damage not occurring on its own portion of the route.' Such a provision is not a contract for exemption from a carrier's liability as such, but a provision making plain that it did not assume the obligation of a carrier beyond its own line, and that each succeeding carrier in the route was but the agent of the shipper for a continuance of the transportation. It is therefore obvious that at the common law an initial carrier under such a state of facts would not be liable for a loss through the fault of a connecting carrier to whom it had, in due course, safely delivered the goods for further transportation. Ogdensburg & L. C. R. Co. v. Pratt, 22 Wall. 123, 22 L. ed. 827; Myrick v. Michigan C. R. Co. 107 U. S. 102, 27 L. ed. 325, 1 Sup. Ct. Rep. 425; Southern P. R. Co. v. Interstate Commerce Commission, 200 U. S. 536, 554, 50 L. ed. 585, 593, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 330. Liability is confessedly dependent upon the provision of the act of Congress regulating commerce between the states, known as the Carmack amendment of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. at L. 584, 595, chap. 3591, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1909, pp. 1149, 1166). The 20th section of the act of February 4, 1887 (24 Stat. at L. 379, chap. 104, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3154), as changed by the Carmack amendment, reads as follows:

'That any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company receiving property for transportation from a point in one state to a point in another state shall issue a receipt or bill of lading therefor, and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to such property, caused by it or by any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company to which such property may be delivered, or over whose line or lines such property may pass, and no contract, receipt, rule, or regulation shall exempt such common carrier, railroad, or transportation company from the liability hereby imposed. Provided, that nothing in this section shall deprive any holder of such receipt or bill of lading of any remedy or right of action which he has under existing law.

'That the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company issuing such receipt or bill of lading shall be entitled to recover from the common carrier, railroad, or transportation company on whose line the loss, damage, or injury shall have been sustained, the amount of such loss, damage, or injury as it may be required to pay to the owners of such property, as may be evidenced by any receipt, judgment, or transcript thereof.'

The power of Congress to enact this legislation has been denied, first, because it is said to deprive the carrier and the shipper of their common-law power to make a just and reasonable contract in respect to goods to be carried to points beyond the line of the interstate carrier; and, second, that in casting liability upon the initial carrier for loss or damage upon the line of a connecting carrier, the former is deprived of its property without due process of law.

The indisputable effect of the Carmack amendment is to hold the initial carrier engaged in interstate commerce and 'receiving property for transportation from a point in one state to a point in another state' as having contracted for through carriage to the point of destination, using the lines of connecting carriers as its agents.

Independently of the Carmack amendment the carrier, when tendered property for such transportation, might elect to contract to carry to destination, in which case it necessarily agreed to do so through the agency of other and independent carriers in the line; or, it might elect to carry safely over its own lines only, and then deliver to the next carrier, who would then become the agent of the shipper. In the first case the receiving carrier's liability as carrier extends over the whole route, for, on obvious grounds, the principal is liable for the acts of its agent. In the other case its carrier liability ends at its own terminal, and its further liability is merely that of a forwarder. Having this power to make the one or the other contract, the only question which has occasioned a conflict in the decided cases was whether it, in the particular case, made the one or the other.

The general doctrine accepted by this court, in the absence of legislation, is, that a carrier, unless there be a special contract, is only bound to carry over its own line, and then deliver to a connecting carrier. That such an initial carrier might contract to carry over the whole route was never doubted. It is equally indisputable that if it does so contract, its common-law carrier liability will extend over the entire route. Ohio & M. R. Co. v. McCarthy, 96 U. S. 258, 266, 24 L. ed. 693, 696; Ogdensburg & L. C. R. Co. v. Pratt, supra; Northern P. R. Co. v. American Trading Co. 195 U. S. 439, 49 L. ed. 269, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 84; Muschamp v. Lancaster & P. R. Co. 8 Mees. & W. 421.

The English cases beginning with Muschamp v. Lancaster & P. R. Co. supra, decided in 1841, down to Bristol & E. R. Co. v. Collins, 7 H. L. Cas. 194, have consistently held that the mere receipt of property for transportation to a point beyond the line of the receiving carrier, without any qualifying agreement, justified an inference of an agreement for through transportation, and an assumption of full carrier liability by the primary carrier. The ruling is grounded upon considerations of public policy and public convenience, and classes the receipt of goods so designated for a point beyond the carrier line as a holding out to the public that the carrier has made its own arrangements for the continuance by a connecting carrier of the transportation after the goods leave its own line. There are American cases which take the same view of the question of evidence thus presented. Some of them are Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Campbell, 7 Heisk. 257, Alabama & G. S. R. Co. v. Mt. Vernon Co. 84 Ala. 175, 4 So. 356; Central R. Co. v. Hasselkus, 91 Ga. 384, 44 Am. St. Rep. 37, 17 S. E. 838; Beard v. St. Louis, A. & T. H. R. Co. 79 Iowa, 531, 44 N. W. 803; Kyle v. Laurens R. Co. 10 Rich. L. 382, 70 Am. Dec. 231; Erie R. Co. v. Wilcox, 84 Ill. 240, 25 Am. Rep. 451; East Tennessee & V. R. Co. v. Rogers, 6 Heisk. 143, 19 Am. Rep. 589.

Upon the other hand, many American courts have repudiated the English rule which holds the carrier to a contract for...