Baldwin Sheep & Land Co. v. Columbia Southern Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 21 March 1911
• Parties: BALDWIN SHEEP & LAND CO. v. COLUMBIA SOUTHERN RY. CO. et al.
• Court: Oregon Supreme Court

114 P. 469

58 Or. 285

BALDWIN SHEEP & LAND CO. v. COLUMBIA SOUTHERN RY. CO. et al.

Supreme Court of Oregon

March 21, 1911

Appeal from Circuit Court, Multnomah County; John B. Cleland, Judge.

Action by the Baldwin Sheep & Land Company against the Columbia Southern Railway Company and another. From a judgment in favor of defendants, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

This is an action to recover damages in the sum of $446.74 and interest, as an overcharge caused by the alleged misquotation of a freight rate by one of defendants' agents on a shipment of sheep from Shaniko, Or., to Rawlins, Wyo., in June, 1905. Plaintiff, desiring to ship 36 car loads of sheep, inquired of the agent of the Columbia Southern Railroad Company at Shaniko, Or., the amount of the through rate from that point to Rawlins. After securing the quotation, it became dissatisfied and took the matter up with R.B. Miller, general freight agent of the Oregon Railroad &amp Navigation Company, at Portland, Or., and asked what the rate would be on the sheep from Biggs, Or., to Rawlins, Wyo.; and also inquired of the agent at Shaniko the rate on the sheep from that place to Biggs. Plaintiff then loaded the sheep on the train at Shaniko, but, before the train left that station, the agent notified plaintiff that it could not ship the sheep under the last quoted rate, but must pay the freight as originally quoted; that being the regular tariff rate. Plaintiff refused to do this, and the Columbia Southern agent told it that it would have to unload its stock, which it declined to do and finally paid the tariff rate originally quoted, under protest. The rate charged and collected is as follows:

33 36"foot cars, Shaniko to Rawlins, at ........... $139 04 $4,588 32 3 34"foot cars, Shaniko to Rawlins at .............. 135 47 406 41 Terminal charges at Rawlins ................................... 31 61 -------- $5,022 34

The rate quoted erroneously to plaintiff is as

follows:

36"foot cars, Shaniko to Biggs, at ................ $ 11 60 36"foot cars, Biggs to Rawlins, at 116 00 -------- 33 36"foot cars at ................................ $127 60 $4,210 80 34"foot cars, Shaniko to Biggs ...................... 11 60 34"foot cars, Biggs to Rawlins ..................... 110 00 -------- 3 34"foot cars at ................................. $121 60 364 80 $4,575 60 -------- -------- Alleged overcharge ................................................. $ 446 74

Plaintiff did not ask for a copy of the tariff when these rates were quoted, nor inspect any of the rate sheets on file at Shaniko. It paid the through rate from Shaniko to Rawlins. The stock went through from Shaniko, the point of origin, to Rawlins, in the same car, and were not transferred at Biggs. The Columbia Southern Railroad Company in 1905 was a feeder of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company, but was operated under separate management, and was commonly known as the "Lytle Road." It intersected the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's line at Biggs, Or. The Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company's line extends from Biggs, Or., to Huntington, Or. The Oregon Short Line extends from Huntington to Granger, Wyo., and the Union Pacific Railroad Company's line extends from Granger to Rawlins, Wyo. At the time this shipment moved, the Columbia Southern Railroad Company and the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company had through billing arrangements from point of origin to point of destination. All of the negotiations and arrangements in regard to the rate were made with a view of moving the stock from Shaniko to Rawlins, via Biggs. The stock were loaded at Shaniko by plaintiff, and it had nothing more to do with them until they arrived at Rawlins. The case was tried before the court without a jury. Judgment was rendered in favor of defendants, and plaintiff appeals.

Milton W. Smith, for appellant.

W.A. Robbins (W.W. Cotton and A.C. Spencer, on the brief), for respondents.

McBRIDE, J. (after stating the facts as above).

The shipment from Shaniko via Biggs to Rawlins was clearly an interstate shipment. There was no change of cars or interruption in the regular course of transportation when the stock reached Biggs, nor was any such change or interruption contemplated

by the shipper. It was one continuous shipment from one state to another. Hanley v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co., 187 U.S. 617, 23 Sup.Ct. 214, 47 L.Ed. 333; Davis v. Southern Ry. Co., 147 N.C. 68, 60 S.E. 722; Shelby Ice & Fuel Co. v. Southern Ry. Co., 147 N.C. 66, 60 S.E. 721; Louisville, etc., R. Co. v. Behlmer, 175 U.S. 648 20 Sup.Ct. 209, 44 L.Ed. 309. The authorities cited by appellant are not in point in this case. Gulf, C. & S.F.R. Co. v. Texas, 204 U.S. 403, 27 Sup.Ct. 360, 51 L.Ed. 540, is a fair illustration. In that case grain was shipped from Hudson, S.D., to Texarkana, Tex. While in course of shipment it was sold to a party in Goldthwaite, Tex., and the shippers notified their agent at Texarkana to reship the grain from there to their purchaser at Goldthwaite,...