Dodge v. Nashville, C. & St. L.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 29 October 1919
• Citation: 215 S.W. 274,142 Tenn. 20
• Parties: DODGE v. NASHVILLE, C. & ST. L. RY. CO.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

215 S.W. 274

142 Tenn. 20

DODGE v. NASHVILLE, C. & ST. L. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

October 29, 1919

Certiorari to Court of Civil Appeals.

Bill by W. H. Dodge against the Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway Co. Decree for complainant, and defendant brings certiorari. Affirmed.

HALL J.

The bill in this cause was filed by the complainant against the defendant in the chancery court of Hamilton county to recover the sum of $224.50, the alleged value of a suit case and its contents, which the complainant deposited with the defendant at its parcel or check room in its station at Chattanooga, Tenn., and which suit case and contents were not returned to the complainant.

Upon the hearing of the cause the chancellor rendered a decree in favor of the complainant and against the defendant for the amount sued for and costs. From this decree the defendant appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals, and assigned a single error.

By that assignment it was insisted that the chancellor erred in decreeing that complainant was entitled to recover the sum of $224.50, because the uncontradicted proof showed that, upon depositing his suit case with the defendant at its check room, it issued to him a receipt, which expressly limited defendant's liability, in the event of the loss of, or damage to, the property, to the sum of $10, and it was insisted by defendant that because of this limitation, which was a part of the contract with complainant, it was not liable to him in an amount exceeding $10.

This assignment of error was overruled by the Court of Civil Appeals, and the decree of the chancellor was affirmed. The cause is now before this court upon the defendant's petition for writ of certiorari, which has heretofore been granted, and the cause has been duly and carefully considered upon the errors assigned in said petition and brief accompanying the same to the action of the Court of Civil Appeals in affirming the decree of the chancellor.

The facts presented by the record are uncontroverted and are substantially as follows: On March 6, 1917, complainant and his wife were passing through the city of Chattanooga en route from Florida to their home in Cincinnati. They were compelled to lay over in Chattanooga for a few hours waiting for the train which was to carry them to their destination. Complainant carried a suit case, the contents of which consisted of both ladies' and gentlemen's wearing apparel, a watch and chain, and several other small articles of jewelry. The undisputed value of the suit case was $6, and its contents $218.50. The defendant maintained in its station or depot, for the convenience of the public and for profit to itself, a parcel or check room at which persons were invited to deposit their baggage for safe-keeping; the defendant making the small charge of 10 cents for each 24 hours that the baggage remained on deposit in said check room. Upon receiving baggage from a person desiring to deposit same in its check room, defendant issued to such person a numbered check and placed a duplicate or corresponding numbered check upon the piece of baggage so deposited, and upon the subsequent demand of the owner of the baggage and the presentation of the numbered check, which he held, his baggage was identified and delivered to him.

Upon arriving at Chattanooga, complainant presented his suit case at the window of the defendant's check room to be checked, paid the fee of 10 cents, and a numbered check was issued to him by the young lady in charge. A few hours after having left the suit case in the check room, the complainant returned, presented the numbered check which had been given him, and asked the young lady in charge for his suit case. Upon making an examination, the young lady, who, it is admitted, was the servant and agent of the defendant discovered that she had previously surrendered the suit case to some other person for a check different in number from that held by the complainant, and different from the duplicate that was attached to the complainant's suit case. The number of complainant's check was 19853. The evidence discloses that the young lady in charge of the check room surrendered the complainant's suit case to the holder of check number 19653. On the face of the check issued to the complainant was printed the following in red letters:

"Notice.--Not responsible for an amount to exceed ten dollars on any article covered by this check."

As before stated, it was the contention of the defendant in the Court of Civil Appeals, and it is the sole contention made here, that the above-quoted provision became a part of the contract between complainant and defendant, and was a valid limitation of the defendant's liability for the loss of said suit case to the amount therein stipulated. So the question to be determined by this court is whether said limitation is valid and binding upon the complaint. If it is then the complainant is only entitled to recover for his suit case and contents the sum of $10. Otherwise he is entitled to recover the full value of the property lost, which, the undisputed proof shows, was $224.50.

It is insisted by the defendant that its liability, under the contract of deposit, was that of a bailee or warehouseman only, and that it had the right to restrict its liability for the property so deposited, in case of loss or damage, to the amount stipulated on the face of the check.

This insistence is grounded upon the holding of the Supreme Court or South Carolina, reported in Terry v. So. Ry., 81 S.C. 279, 62 S.E. 249, 18 L. R. A. (N. S.) 295. It makes no question as to its liability for the stipulated $10.

That case involved the liability of the railroad company for the value of a suit case and its contents, which had been received by its servant at its station room in Spartanburg for safe-keeping, for which it issued to the plaintiff a numbered check or receipt, upon which was printed the following: "The party accepting this check hereby agrees, in consideration of the low rate at which it is issued, that no claim in excess of ten dollars ($10.00) shall be made against the railroad company for loss of, or injury to, any package, valise, or other article, which may have been deposited with it, and for which this ticket has been issued. W. H. Tayloe, General Passenger Agent."

The printing on the check also provided that a charge of 10 cents should be paid by the person depositing his baggage with the defendant for each 24 hours or fraction thereof that it should remain with the...