Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Bauer

• Decision Date: 21 May 1917
• Docket Number: 19119
• Citation: 75 So. 376,114 Miss. 516
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. BAUER

75 So. 376

114 Miss. 516

ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. BAUER

No. 19119

Supreme Court of Mississippi

May 21, 1917

Division A

APPEAL from the circuit court of Grenada county, HON. H. H. RODGERS Judge.

Suit by C. A. Bauer against the Illinois Central Railroad Company. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.

Judgment reversed.

Mayes Wells, May & Sanders, for appellant.

J. L. Barnard, for appellee.

OPINION

HOLDEN, J.

This is an appeal from the circuit court of Grenada county, where the appellee, C. A. Bauer, recovered judgment against the appellant railroad company, for the sum of two hundred and twenty dollars as damages for injury to stock in transit from Omaha, Neb., to Kirkham, Miss.; the judgment being based upon the loss of one mule and one horse, of the value of one hundred dollars each.

It appears from the testimony in the case that when the car containing the horse and mule, with other stock therein, arrived at Kirkman, its destination, one of the legs of the horse was broken above the knee, and, being considered worthless, was shot after being taken from the car. The mule had a cut on his right hind leg eight inches long when unloaded from the car, and died, from some cause not shown by the record, about three months later.

The contract of shipment between the shipper and the railroad company contained a clause limiting the value of the mule and horse to one hundred dollars each. This contract of shipment also expressly stipulated that:

"No claim for loss or damage to stock shall be valid against said railroad company, unless it shall be made in writing, verified by affidavit and delivered to the general freight agent or freight claim agent, of the railroad company, or to the agent of the company at the station from which the stock is shipped, or to the agent of the company at the point of destination, within ten days from the time said stock is removed from said cars."

The testimony offered by the plaintiff substantially tended to show that the injury to the animals was caused by the rough and negligent handling of the car in which they were being transported. On the day that the injured animals were removed from the car the appellee Bauer, reported the injury and damage to the mule and horse to one Mr. Scott, who was pointed out to appellee, as the claim agent of appellant railroad company. Mr. Scott advised appellee to write...