Boehl v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 25 July 1890 |
| Citation | 44 Minn. 191 |
| Parties | EDWARD BOEHL <I>vs.</I> CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST. PAUL RAILWAY COMPANY. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action brought in the district court for Jackson county, to recover damages for fatal injuries to a stallion carried by defendant. At the trial, before Perkins, J., the plaintiff had a verdict of $250. The defendant appeals from an order refusing a new trial.
Andrew C. Dunn, for appellant.
T. J. Knox, for respondent.
Carriers of live-stock are liable as common carriers for damages or injuries thereto arising during the transportation, except such as, without the fault or negligence of the carrier, result from the vitality of the freight; that is to say, the nature and propensity of animals to injure themselves or each other, their unruliness, restiveness, fright, viciousness, kicking, or goring, etc. The carrier is relieved from liability for injuries from such causes if he has provided suitable means of transportation, and exercised that degree of care which the nature of the property requires, or has not otherwise contributed to the injury. Of course, the carrier is relieved from special care and oversight of the animals, where the owner or agent accompanies them for that purpose. Ang. Carr. § 214, et seq.; Hutch. Carr. § 217; Clarke v. Rochester & Syracuse R. Co., 14 N. Y. 570, (67 Am. Dec. 210;) Evans v. Fitchburg R. Co., 111 Mass. 142; 3 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, 6; Moulton v. St. Paul, M. & M. Ry. Co., 31 Minn. 85, (16 N. W. Rep. 497;) 2 Wait, Act. & Def. 32. But if the injury or loss arise in whole or in part from the carrier's negligence, without the fault or concurring negligence of the owner or his agent, or from extrinsic causes other than inevitable accident, the carrier is liable as in other cases. And it is enough to make a prima facie case against him that the owner allege and show the delivery of the property to the carrier, and the nature of the loss or damage suffered during its transit. It will then devolve on the carrier to show that such injury was caused without his fault, and from the inherent nature or propensity, or "proper vice" as it is sometimes called, of the animals transported. Shriver v. Sioux City & St. Paul R. Co., 24 Minn. 506; Lindsley v. Chicago, Mil. & St. Paul Ry. Co., 36 Minn. 539, (33 N. W. Rep. 7;) Hull v. Chicago, St. Paul, M. & O. Ry. Co., 41 Minn. 510, (43 N. W. Rep. 391.) The carrier, therefore, needs no special contract limiting his liability in respect to injuries resulting to animals from such causes.
In the case at bar the plaintiff alleges the delivery by plaintiff to defendant, at Chicago, of a young stallion, about nine months old, to be transported over its railway to Jackson, in this state, for hire; that the defendant undertook to do so, but so negligently conducted that it did not safely carry and deliver the animal as required by its contract; and the specific acts of negligence and misconduct are alleged and stated in the complaint to be the violent "bumping" of the cars; "that the defendant carelessly and negligently, and with great, sudden, and unnecessary force and violence, drove its engine and other cars against said car in which said stallion was being carried," whereby the animal was with great force and violence thrown down and injured, so that he died before the car arrived at its destination. The defendant's answer denies all these allegations, and sets up a special contract alleged to have been made with plaintiff's agent at Chicago, which exempted the defendant from all liability as an insurer, and "for injuries from the acts of the animals themselves or to each other, such as biting, kicking," etc. The colt was shipped in the same car with other horses and animals of the plaintiff, and all under the care of plaintiff's agent, who was placed in charge thereof by plaintiff, and furnished free transportation by the company. The plaintiff, in his reply, denies that the special contract set up by the defendant was made with his authority, or that he is bound by it. Under the issue tendered by the complaint, and upon the evidence in the case, we do not think that it is necessary to take the contract into consideration at all. The complaint narrows the issue to the question of the negligence...
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Boehl v. Chi., M. & St. P. Ry. Co.
... ... causes.In the case at bar the plaintiff alleges the delivery by plaintiff to defendant at Chicago of a young stallion, about nine months old, to be transported over its railway to Jackson, in this ... ...