Chicago Ry Co v. United States

• Decision Date: 15 April 1918
• Docket Number: No. 250,250
• Citation: 246 U.S. 512,62 L.Ed. 859,38 S.Ct. 351
• Parties: CHICAGO & N. W. RY. CO. v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

246 U.S. 512

38 S.Ct. 351

62 L.Ed. 859

CHICAGO & N. W. RY. CO.

v UNITED STATES.

No. 250.

Argued March 27 and 28, 1918.

Decided April 15, 1918.

[Syllabus from pages 512 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Charles A. Vilas and William G. Wheeler, both of Chicago, Ill., for petitioner.

Mr. Assistant Attorney General Frierson, for the United States.

Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Charging violation of the Act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. 607), to prevent cruelty to animals while in transit, the United States sued petitione for the prescribed penalty and recovered a judgment in the District Court, Northern District of Illinois, which the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 234 Fed. 268, 148 C. C. A. 170.

The statute forbids an interstate railroad carrier from confining animals in cars longer than thirty-six hours, upon written request, without unloading them for rest, water and feeding 'unless prevented by storm or by other accidental or unavoidable causes which cannot be anticipated or avoided by the exercise of due diligence and foresight,' and subjects every such carrier 'who knowingly and willlfully fails to comply' therewith to a penalty. Admitting continuous confinement for more than thirty-six hours petitioner defended upon the ground that it was prevented from unloading within the required period by exculpatory accidental and unavoidable causes.

It appeared: The animals were loaded at Ringsted, Iowa, 438 miles from destination—Union Stock Yards, Chicago—at 6 p. m. October 4th, and as part of a train the car containing them left Clinton, Iowa, 138 miles from Chicago, at 6 p. m. October 5th. The ordinary schedule time between the latter points is nine hours, but without increase of actual moving speed the run had been made in about six. While the train was passing through Proviso, 16 miles from destination, at 2:48 a. m. October 6th a drawbar came out and derailed a car. A delay of two hours and fifty-two minutes followed—not undue the carrier contends, but unreasonably long the government maintains. Later, at Brighton Park an air hose burst causing further delay of twenty-eight minutes. The car reached the stock yards at 9:05 a. m. October 6th—thirty-nine hours and five minutes after being loaded.

In its charge to the jury the trial court said:

'Your inquiry has to do with the transportation of this car of stock from the point of origin out in Iowa to destination, Union Stock Yards, and if, on the evidence in this case, you conclude that the railway company, by the exercise of due diligence, would have gotten that car of stock from the point of origin to Union Stock Yards inside of thirty-six hours, your verdict should be in favor of the United States and against the defendant, even though you should be of the opinion that these two particular things which have been made the subject of most of the contention here were properly handled by the railway company.

'Now, in determining this question you take into consideration the distance, among other things, the distance shown by the evidence from the point of origin to destination, what the evidence shows as to the period of time, thirty-nine hours and five minutes consumed from point of origin to destination, not merely from Clinton to Chicago, the whole movement is here for your consideration and to be considered by you in determining whether or not due diligence has been shown by the carrier.

'Now, what is due diligence? Due diligence, as that term is used in this statute means the exercise of foresight bringing to bear on the situation in hand, the transaction in hand, the human intelligence of an average man employed in such business and exercised by a man who has been experienced in railroad business, trained in railroad business so that he knows what...