Bailey v. Missouri Pac. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 23 November 1914
• Docket Number: No. 11303.,11303.
• Citation: 171 S.W. 44
• Parties: BAILEY et al. v. MISSOURI PAC. RY. CO.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

171 S.W. 44

BAILEY et al. v. MISSOURI PAC. RY. CO.

No. 11303.

Kansas City Court of Appeals. Missouri.

November 23, 1914.

1. COMMERCE (§ 8) — EXCLUSIVENESS OF FEDERAL POWER — STATE LEGISLATION.

The Carmack amendment to the Hepburn Act (Act Feb. 4, 1887, c. 104, § 20, 24 Stat. 386, as amended by Act June 29, 1906, c. 3591, § 7, 34 Stat. 593 [U. S. Comp. St. 1913, § 8592]) excludes state laws and policies from the field of the liability of carriers growing out of interstate shipments.

2. COURTS (§ 97) — RULES OF DECISION — FEDERAL COURTS.

The state court must follow decisions of the United States court in interstate commerce cases, recognizing the validity of reasonable stipulations in shipping contracts for the giving of notice of claims, whether supported by the consideration of a reduced rate or not, regarded by such courts as a mere regulation which the parties may incorporate as a part of their contract.

3. CARRIERS (§ 159) — LIMITATION OF LIABILITY — CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES — "CLAIM FOR DELAY."

The provision in a bill of lading, issued in consideration of a reduced rate, that claims for loss, damage, or delay must be made in writing at the point of delivery or origin within four months after delivery, to make the carrier liable, was not limited to claims for damages to the goods shipped, but extended to damages from delay whereby apples, which the consignee intended to pack in the barrels shipped, could not be picked until after they were overripe and injured for storage purposes, since the term "claim for delay" was intended to be comprehensive, and to include all damages that might be reasonably anticipated to follow the failure to deliver the barrels within a reasonable time.

4. COMMERCE (§ 33) — "INTERSTATE COMMERCE" — BILLS OF LADING.

When a commodity has been delivered to a common carrier to be transported continuously to a point outside the state where received, it is "interstate commerce" thence forward, whether the shipment be made on a through bill of lading or upon a bill issued for transportation between intrastate points.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Morgan County; J. G. Slate, Judge.

Action by S. P. Bailey and another against the Missouri Pacific Railway Company. Judgment for plaintiffs, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

C. D. Corum, of St. Louis, for appellant. J. W. McClelland, of Versailles, R. M. Embry, of California, Mo., and R. M. Livesay, of Versailles, for respondents.

JOHNSON, J.

Plaintiffs sued to recover damages resulting to them from an alleged negligent delay in the transportation of two car loads of apple barrels, which defendant received at Kansas City and undertook to carry to Versailles, Mo., and there to deliver to plaintiffs, the consignees. The barrels were purchased by plaintiffs from a manufacturer in Kansas City, Kan., and were loaded in two cars on a switch track which connected the factory with the line of the Terminal Railway Company, another common carrier. A "switch card," showing the destination of the cars, was tacked on each car by the shipper, and the Terminal Company received the cars at the switch track where they were loaded, and switched them a mile or more to the yards of defendant in Kansas City, Mo., where they were received by defendant. The Terminal Company charged $4 per car for this service. Defendant had promised to furnish a large car for the shipment, but, being unable to do so, provided two smaller cars instead, and paid the switching charges on one car and collected the charges on the other from the consignee as a part of the cost of transportation from the factory in Kansas City, Kan., to Versailles. If a single car had been furnished, as agreed, the switching charge of $4 would have been added to the expense bill issued by defendant for the transportation.

Defendant issued a bill of lading to the shipper, made out on the form approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, for the transportation of the cars from Kansas City, Mo., to Versailles. The barrels were properly designated in the bill as belonging to class D, for which the rate from Kansas City, Mo., to Versailles, in the schedules on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission, was 12 cents per 100 pounds. This was a reduced rate, since the schedules and approved form of bill of lading provided a higher rate for class D freight forwarded with the...