Bick v. Minneapolis, St. P. & S. S. M. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 05 February 1909 |
| Citation | 107 Minn. 78,119 N.W. 505 |
| Parties | BICK v. MINNEAPOLIS, ST. P. & S. S. M. RY. CO. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Appeal from District Court, Clay County; M. D. Taylor, Judge.
Action by Karl F. Bick against the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company. Verdict for plaintiff. From an order denying a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial, defendant appeals. Reversed.
Where the pleadings present clearly defined issues, and other issues are not tried by consent, it is error for the court, against the objection of the defendant, to submit the case to the jury ‘upon the evidence, instead of the pleadings.’ Ball, Watson, Young & Lawrence, for appellant.
F. H. Peterson and Alfred H. Bright, for respondent.
Plaintiff recovered a verdict against the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Ry. Co., and the defendant appealed to this court from an order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial.
There is very little confiict as to the facts, other than the amount of damages; but the manner in which the case was tried makes it somewhat difficult to ascertain the issues and theories of the respective parties. It appears that on or about May 15, 1903, a party by the name of Gantz delivered a car load of vinegar and wine to the Union Pacific Railway Company at Tonganoxie, Kan., for shipment under the terms of a certain bill of landing to the respondent, Bick, at Tenny, Minn. The Union Pacific Company carried the property from Tonganoxie to Leavenworth, Kan., and delivered it to the Chicago Great Western Railway Company, by which it was carried to the Minnesota Transfer and on May 9th delivered to the appellant for carriage to Tenney, in Wilkin county, Minn. It arrived at that station on May 21, 1903, and the station agent was unable to find the consignee. The usual methods were pursued; but it was not until after June 15th that the appellant learned that a mistake had been made in sending the car to its station, and that it was intended for another station of the same name located on the Northern Pacific Railway in Clay county, Minn.
The appellant was not responsible for the mistake. Upon being directed to do so, it sent the car on to Glenwood, Minn., under instructions to deliver it there to the Northern Pacific Company for carriage to the consignee at Tenny, on its line. When the car reached Glenwood, it was in the usual course of business placed on the transfer tracks of the Northern Pacific Company. It seems that it is customary for each connecting carrier, when it receives a car, to pay or become responsible for the freight earned by the line from which the car was received. The Northern Pacific agent at Glenwood examined the property in this car, and, being of the opinion that it was not of sufficient value to secure the amount for which they would become responsible to the appellant for freight, declined to receive it. The result was that the car stood on the track at Glenwood for more than a month, and until Bick paid the amount of the freight to the Northern Pacific Company. When finally delivered to the consignee the wines and vinegar had spoiled and, according to the finding of the jury, become worthless.
Bick thereafter brought an action against the Northern Pacific Company in which he sought to recover upon two causes of action. The first alleged the shipment from Tonganoxie and facts which it was claimed entitled him to recover damages from the Northern Pacific Company. The second alleged that he had paid freight to the Northern Pacific upon a false statement made by its agent that the goods were then in good condition. The trial of that action resulted in a directed verdict for the railway company upon the first, and a verdict in favor of the plaintiff upon the second, cause of action.
Thereafter Bick commenced this action against the appellant to recover the damages caused by the deterioration of the property, alleging that it was caused by the negligent manner in which the appellant handled and cared for the car and its contents. In the complaint he alleged that on or about the 1st day of July, 1903, he entered into a contract with the defendant whereby it agreed to carry the goods from Tenney to Glenwood and deliver it to the Northern Pacific Company; that, in violation of the terms of the agreement to carry the goods with care and dispatch, it delayed the delivery thereof for 45 days, during which time it negligently allowed the goods to be exposed to the heat and to spoil, to his damage in the sum of $1,750. It will be observed that the plaintiff thus pleaded an independent contract for the transportation of the goods from Tenney to Glenwood.
The answer as amended admitted that Bick was the owner of the goods loaded on the car at Tenney, denied all the other allegations of the complaint, and alleged that the goods were delivered to the Union Pacific Railway Company at Tonganoxie, Kan., to be shipped to Bick at Tenny in Clay county, Minn., by way of the Chicago Great Western Railway Company and the Northern Pacific Railway Company, that it was delivered to the defendant at the Minnesota Transfer by mistake, and was by it carried to a station on its own line of the same name. It denied that the transportation from Tenney to Glenwood was an independent and original shipment, and alleged that it was made under the terms and conditions of the bill of lading issued by the Union Pacific Railway Company at Tonganoxie, Kan., that the plaintiff had violated the terms and conditions of that contract and was not entitled to recover damages, and that the defendant was entitled to the benefit of the terms of that bill of lading and could assert the violation thereof as a defense. The reply denied each and every allegation contained in the amended answer.
When the case some on for trial the parties stipulated that the evidence which had been offered in the action brought against the Northern Pacific Railway Company...
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