Brown Transp. Corp. v. Atcon, Inc., 54694
| Decision Date | 15 November 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 54694,54694,1 |
| Citation | 241 S.E.2d 15,144 Ga.App. 301 |
| Parties | BROWN TRANSPORTATION CORPORATION, etc. v. ATCON, INC |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Siegel & Grude, Bennet A. Grude, Kenneth H. Forrest, Atlanta, for appellant.
Huie, Sterne, Brown & Ide, D. Lake Rumsey, Jr., John R. Lowery, Atlanta, for appellee.
Atcon, Inc., a Georgia corporation, delivered four separate shipments of carpeting materials to Brown Transportation Corporation, operator of Harper Motor Lines, Inc., to be shipped collect to the consignee, Idaho Shippers Association, Salt Lake City, Utah. The carrier delivered the goods without receiving payment for the freight charges, even though shipped collect. The carrier subsequently billed the consignee on open account but failed to give the shipper any notice whatsoever of this conduct. The carrier failed to collect the freight charges from the consignee. Some seven months later, after extension of credit to the consignee, the carrier realized that the consignee was in serious financial difficulty and the carrier presented the freight bill to the shipper and demanded payment. When Atcon, Inc. refused to pay Brown Transportation Corporation, operator of Harper Motor Lines, Inc., the carrier, sued Atcon, Inc., to recover the shipping charges invoking Section 7 of the bill of lading contract. The defendant answered, denying any indebtedness was due and in addition to pleading the defense of failure to state a claim it also raised the affirmative defenses of estoppel, fraud, laches and waiver.
After discovery the case came on for trial before the court without a jury. The court held that the plaintiff was in violation of 49 CFR, § 1322.3 in that it failed to bill the defendant shipper as required within seven days of delivery and failed to bill defendant shipper for at least seven months after said discovery. Hence, the plaintiff was entitled to nothing. Plaintiff appeals. Held:
1. Generally, the carrier may collect the shipping charges from the shipper or consignee absent a special contract under which the carrier agrees to relieve one or the other. Aero Mayflower Transit Company, Inc. v. Harbin, 126 Ga.App. 72, 73, 190 S.E.2d 91; Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Hanson, 131 Ga.App. 506(2), 206 S.E.2d 108. Here the carrier had inserted the following information on the bill of lading, "Subject to Section 7 of Conditions of applicable bill of lading, if this shipment is to be delivered to the consignee without recourse on the consignor, the consignor shall sign the following statement: The carrier shall...
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Southern Pacific Transportation Co v. Commercial Metals Co
...(1981) (emphasis added). 7 In agreement with the decision of the Fifth Circuit in the present case is Brown Transportation Corp. v. Atcon, Inc., 144 Ga.App. 301, 241 S.E.2d 15 (1977), cert. denied sub nom. Brown Transport Corp. v. Atcon, Inc., 439 U.S. 1014, 99 S.Ct. 626, 58 L.Ed.2d 687 (19......
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Alaska Marine Trucking v. Carnation Co.
...Midland Valley Lumber Co., 237 Mo.App. 147, 164 S.W.2d 930, 933 (1942), and cases cited therein; but see Brown Transp. Corp. v. Atcon, Inc., 144 Ga.App. 301, 241 S.E.2d 15, 16 (1977), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1014, 99 S.Ct. 626, 58 L.Ed.2d 687 (1978) (requiring carrier to bill consignor withi......
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Southern Pac. Transp. Co. v. Commercial Metals Co., 79-1843
...would serve only to reward the carrier for its unlawful as well as inequitable conduct." Id. Accord, Brown Transportation Corp. v. Atcon, Inc., 144 Ga.App. 301, 241 S.E.2d 15 (1977), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1014, 99 S.Ct. 626, 58 L.Ed.2d 687 (1978); Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Hanson, 131 Ga.A......
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Westover v. United Van Lines, Inc., 59617
...v. Harbin, supra, p. 74, 190 S.E.2d 91; Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Hanson, supra, p. 507, 206 S.E.2d 108; Brown Transp. Corp. v. Atcon, Inc., 144 Ga.App. 301, 303, 241 S.E.2d 15 (1977). In Allied Van Lines, supra, a similar bill of lading which the defendant had also signed as shipper and co......