Fox v. Boston & M.R. Co.

• Court: Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
• Writing for the Court: [19 N.E. 223] MORTON, C.J.
• Citation: Fox v. Boston & M.R. Co., 19 N.E. 222, 148 Mass. 220 (Mass. 1889)
• Decision Date: 02 January 1889
• Parties: FOX v. BOSTON & M.R. Co.

148 Mass. 220

19 N.E. 222

FOX v. BOSTON & M.R. Co.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Essex.

January 2, 1889

COUNSEL

J.P. &amp B.B. Jones, for plaintiff.

W.H Moody, for defendant.

OPINION

MORTON, C.J.

The plaintiff offered to prove that on February 22, 1881, he made a special contract with the defendant, by the terms of which it was to transport a car-load of apples from Haverhill to Portland, and deliver it to the Maine Central Railroad, a connecting railroad, in time to be transported by the latter corporation to Bangor, by a freight train which left Portland early in the morning of the 23d day of February; that the weather was mild on the 22d and 23d days of February, and that "the agreement with the defendant was made with reference to the mildness of the weather, and the importance of having the apples delivered to the Maine Central Railroad at the agreed time;" that the defendant negligently delayed to deliver the apples at the time agreed, and by reason of this negligence they "were caught in cold weather in course of transportation from Portland to Bangor arriving at the latter place in a frozen condition." The presiding justice ruled that "if the market value of the apples, when they reached Portland, was only diminished in the respect that a liability of being frozen during the course of the transportation by the Maine Central Railroad was incurred or increased by reason of the negligent delay of the defendant in the transportation from Haverhill to Portland, the plaintiff cannot recover in this action for that diminution in market value."

If we understand this ruling, its effect was to restrict the plaintiff's right to recover to the diminution in the market value of the apples at Portland, caused by the delay and to prevent his recovering anything for the damage to the apples by freezing in the transportation from Portland to Bangor. The general rule is that where goods are delivered in the usual way to a carrier for transportation, and there is a negligent delay in delivering them, the measure of damages is the diminution in the market value of the goods between the time when they ought to have been delivered and the time when they were in fact delivered. Ingledew v. Railroad Co., 7 Gray, 86; Cutting v. Railroad Co., 13 Allen 381; Scott v. Steam-Ship Co., 106 Mass. 468; Harvey v. Railroad Co., 124 Mass. 421.

These cases are put upon the ground that the duty of the carrier is the measure of his liability; that his duty is to carry the goods to the end of his line; and that any future risks to which the goods may be exposed are not within the contemplation of the parties or the scope of their contract. But we think a different rule prevails, where the parties make a special contract which provides for certain risks to which the goods are exposed on the connecting line. Thus, in the case before us, the parties made a special contract by which the defendant agreed to deliver the apples to the Maine...