Janesville Live Stock & Shipping Association v. Hines
| Decision Date | 02 July 1920 |
| Docket Number | 21,860 |
| Citation | 178 N.W. 739,146 Minn. 260 |
| Parties | JANESVILLE LIVE STOCK & SHIPPING ASSOCIATION AND OTHERS v. WALKER D. HINES, DIRECTOR GENERAL, AND ANOTHER |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the municipal court of Waseca to recover $182.10 for losses caused by delay in transportation of live stock. From a judgment entered in favor of plaintiff, defendant appealed to the district court for that county where the appeal was heard by Childress, J., who when defendants rested denied their motion for a directed verdict, and a jury which returned a verdict for the amount demanded. From an order denying their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, defendants appealed. Reversed.
Carrier must deliver within reasonable time -- unusual delay.
1. A carrier, although not an insurer of the time of delivery must deliver within a reasonable time, and in case of a great and unusual delay must show that it was not caused by his negligence.
Notice to shippers of delays indicated by railway time schedules.
2. Shippers must take notice of the railway time schedules in force at the time of the shipment, and a carrier who transports and delivers in accordance with such schedules cannot be charged with negligence on account of delays shown thereon, in the absence of a special contract to make an earlier delivery.
Inference of negligence rebutted.
3. The inference of negligence arising from the length of time consumed in transporting the shipment in question was overcome by showing delivery according to the time schedules then in force.
Richard L. Kennedy, Fred G. Wright and George F. Dames, for appellants.
Henry M. Gallagher and Moonan & Moonan, for respondent.
On September 16, 1918, at seven o'clock in the evening plaintiff delivered two carloads of stock to defendant at Janesville, Minnesota, to be transported over the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, commonly known as the "Northwestern," from that point to Mankato, a distance of 18 miles, and over the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway, commonly known as the "Omaha," from Mankato to South St. Paul, Minnesota, a distance of 82 miles. The stock arrived at the stockyards at South St. Paul at 9:05 p.m. on the evening of September 17, 1918, too late for the market of that day. On the following day the market price for such stock was considerably less than on the seventeenth. Claiming that defendant was negligent in failing to deliver the stock in time for the market of the seventeenth, plaintiffs brought this action to recover the losses sustained by reason of the delay. The jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs, and defendant appealed from an order denying his alternative motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial.
The principal question for consideration is whether the evidence sustains the finding that defendant negligently failed to transport and deliver the stock within a reasonable time.
The plaintiffs presented evidence that, for many years prior to this shipment, stock delivered at Janesville at about seven o'clock in the evening had been transported over these same railways to the stockyards at South St. Paul in time for the market the following day.
The carrier is not an insurer of the time of delivery, but is required to exercise diligence and to deliver within a reasonable time under all the circumstances. If the delay be great and unusual the burden is on him to explain how it happened and to show that it was not caused by his negligence. National Elev. Co. v. Great Northern Ry. Co. 141 Minn. 407, 170 N.W. 515, and cases there cited.
The Northwestern railway runs in an easterly and westerly direction through Janesville and Mankato. The Omaha runs in a northerly and southerly direction through Mankato to Merriam from which point one branch runs to Minneapolis and another to St. Paul. Stock cars destined for the stockyards at South St. Paul are carried by the train to Western avenue in St. Paul, from which point they are switched to the stockyards, a distance of several miles. This switching operation usually occupies somewhat less than two hours. Defendant had no trains which made a continuous run from Janesville to St. Paul. The route was from Janesville to the junction with the Omaha at Mankato, and from this junction to Merriam, and thence to St. Paul. The time schedules of defendant's trains, in force at the time of this shipment, were put in evidence by stipulation. These schedules show that the train which took the stock from Janesville was due at Mankato at 9:25 p.m. of the same day, September 16; that the first train going north...
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