Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Doughty

• Decision Date: 15 January 1912
• Docket Number: 3,463.
• Citation: 73 S.E. 541,10 Ga.App. 317
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. DOUGHTY.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

73 S.E. 541

10 Ga.App. 317

ILLINOIS CENT. R. CO. v. DOUGHTY.

No. 3,463.

Court of Appeals of Georgia

January 15, 1912

Syllabus by the Court.

Under the Mississippi statute (Code Miss. 1906, § 4851), which provides, "Every bill of lading or other instrument in the nature or stead thereof, acknowledging receipt of property for transportation, shall be conclusive evidence in the hands of a bona fide holder for value, whether by assignment, pledge or otherwise, as against the person or corporation issuing the same, that the property has been so received," where a transportation company has issued a bill of lading for so many bales of cotton, weighing so many pounds, and describes it as being marked with certain letters of the alphabet, and the company tenders to a bona fide holder of the bill of lading the specified number of bales which in fact weigh less than the weight stated, and are marked with different letters, and the holder of the bill of lading accepts the cotton, but stipulates that he does not accept it in satisfaction of the bill of lading, and sues the carrier, and it appears that the marks on the cotton were immaterial in fixing its value, held, that the carrier may show that the cotton tendered by it was the identical cotton received by it, despite the discrepancy in marks; but it is liable for the shortage in weight.

Error from City Court of Richmond County; W. F. Eve, Judge.

Action by L. G. Doughty against the Illinois Central Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed.

Jos. B. & Bryan Cumming, for plaintiff in error.

C. H. & R. S. Cohen, for defendant in error.

POWELL J.

A dealer in cotton at Granada, Miss., caused a compress company to deliver on his behalf to the Illinois Central Railroad Company a lot of cotton for shipment to Savannah, Ga., and received therefor a bill of lading describing it as 100 bales of cotton, weighing 51,990 pounds, marked "PAYK." This bill of lading was transferred to the plaintiff Doughty, who took it as a bona fide holder for value. He demanded the 100 bales of cotton of this weight and marking. The delivering company at Savannah (the Illinois Central Company having undertaken to deliver it through connecting carriers) was unable to find any such cotton, but tendered 100 bales, marked "PARK," and of some 200 pounds less weight. Under an agreement between the plaintiff and the railroad company, he accepted this cotton without prejudice and sold it for the benefit of whom it might concern. He showed that he had bought the cotton as being of a certain grade, though he had no information as to the grade, except what the seller represented, and the seller, it appeared, had not actually graded the cotton before shipment. The railroad company undertook to show that the cotton which was delivered to it was marked "PARK," and not "PAYK," and that the cotton which it received was the identical cotton which it tendered in delivery (indeed, contended that the letters designated as "PAYK" in the bill of lading were not the letters "PAYK,"...