Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Benoit Gin Co.

• Decision Date: 24 May 1971
• Docket Number: No. 46209,46209
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY v. BENOIT GIN CO., Inc. and Ranger Insurance Co.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 426

248 So.2d 426

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY v. BENOIT GIN CO., Inc. and Ranger Insurance Co.

No. 46209.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

May 24, 1971.

Sillers, Roberts, Pearson & eddins, Rosedale, for appellant.

Jacobs, Griffith & Hatcher, Cleveland, Lake, Tindall & Hunger, Greenville, for appellees.

SMITH, Justice.

Benoit Gin Company recovered a judgment for $7,741.25 against Illinois Central Railroad Company in an action begun by it in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Bolivar County against that company and Ranger Insurance Company. Illinois Central Railroad Company appeals.

In its suit, the gin company sought to recover for fire damage to 61 bales of cotton. The basis of the action against the railroad company was that it was liable as a common carrier of the cotton at the time of the fire under the rule of 'strict liability.' Alternatively, Ranger was made a defendant under an allegation that the cotton had been insured by it against fire originating on the gin premises. No question is raised as to the form of the cation or joinder.

The railroad company answered, alleging that it was not liable because the fire resulted from a 'fire packed' bale which had been included in the shipment by the gin company. Ranger's answer asserted that it was not liable because the fire did not originate on the gin premises but originated while the cotton was in the possession of and being transported by the railroad company.

The facts may be summarized as follows. On October 10, 1969, the cotton was delivered by the gin company to the railroad for shipment from its plant at Benoit to Greenville. To all appearances it was in good condition and there was no indication of fire at the time the cotton was loaded onto the railroad car. The train carrying the cotton left Benoit at 2:00 p.m. the same day and arrived at the railroad company's yard in Greenville at 3:30 p.m. There it remained until 11:30 p.m. when it was moved to a spur track leading to a compress at Greenville. Throughout the entire time involved at least one of the doors of the car in which the cotton was being transported was not closed but remained open. There was testimony that at 1:30 a.m. on October 11 there was no indication of fire and no smell of smoke. However, at some time between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m. on October 11 it was discovered that the cotton was on fire in the railroad car. Later on, when the damaged cotton had been removed from the car, it was found that bale number 1802 had a hole burned in its end which was 13 inches deep. It is the position of the railroad company that this shows that it was a 'fire packed' bale which had been on fire at the time it left the gin company premises.

It was shown by undisputed evidence that the gin company employed watchers who constantly observed the ginning process as it proceeded and that upon any indication of fire or other suspicious circumstance the ginning process was stopped, a door was swung so that the suspected cotton, instead of continuing through the gin, was ejected upon the floor. Then, after cleaning out the machinery, the bale in question, as well as the bale which had been ginned immediately before it and the one ginned immediately after it, were set apart for a sufficient number of hours to determine whether there was, in fact, fire.

On October 10 such a fire had occurred at the gin in bale number 1799. The stated procedures were followed, and this bale and the next and preceding bales were tagged as 'suspected' bales. None of these bales was included in the shipment here involved. No fire developed in any of the suspected bales so tagged and set aside, and about two weeks later they were included in another shipment which left the gin on October 24.

The railroad company offered the manager of the gin at Skene as an expert witness on cotton fires. The court, after considering the witness's own testimony as to his qualifications, ruled that it had not been shown that he possessed that degree of specialized knowledge, training or skill in the area under consideration necessary to qualify him as an expert on the subject. Nothing at all was shown or attempted to be shown as to what the testimony of this witness would have been if he had been allowed to testify as an expert on cotton fires.

In this state of the record, it was clear that one (but only one) of the defendants was liable for the loss. If the fire originated on the premises of the gin company, it was covered by the Ranger policy; if it did not, then the liability was that of the railroad company. At the conclusion of all of the evidence, the trial court, on appropriate motions, instructed the jury peremptorily to find for the insurance company and against the railroad company. The amount of the damages was stipulated.

It was undisputed that there had been no indication of fire when the cotton was turned over to the railroad and loaded in the car. Nor was there anything to suggest fire at 2:00 p.m. when it left Benoti. Neither was there any evidence suggesting fire or smoke between 3:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. while the car remained in the railroad yard at Greenville. At 11:30 p.m., when the car containing the cotton was removed to the spur track, there still was no evidence of fire or smoke. At 1:30 a.m. the next morning an observer testified that the cotton was not on fire. It was not unitl 4:00 a.m. that it was discovered that the cotton in the car was on fire.

The testimony as to these circumstances was not in disputed and there was no evidence sufficient to support a factual finding by a jury that the fire originated on the gin premises and thus was covered by Ranger's policy. The same facts, especially in the complete absence of countervailing evidence, show that the cotton was received by the railroad company for transportation in good condition so far as fire was concerned and was transported in its car, open and unguarded, and continued in its custody and under its...