Jordan v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Co.
| Decision Date | 20 December 1916 |
| Citation | 191 S.W. 70,269 Mo. 281 |
| Parties | GEORGE JORDAN et al. v. CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY RAILROAD COMPANY, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Putnam Circuit Court. -- Hon. G. W. Wanamaker, Judge.
Transferred to Kansas City Court of Appeals.
O. M Spencer, A. W. Mullins, Palmer Trimble and M. G. Roberts for appellant.
N. A Franklin and Fogle & Fogle for respondents.
I. This case was certified to this court by the Kansas City Court of Appeals in a per curiam opinion, setting out, in substance, that the action was one for damages suffered by a carload of horses shipped by the plaintiff from Lemon, Missouri, to Buffalo, New York, under a shipping contract with the defendant, which transported the horses to Chicago, where they were delivered to another carrier under a new contract to take them to Buffalo, New York.
The contract of shipment showed an agreed valuation of one hundred dollars for each horse and non-liability of the defendant above that sum.
The issues presented involved the application of an Act of Congress known as the Hepburn Act, as amended.
There was a judgment in the trial court for $ 850 in favor of plaintiff, which was duly appealed to the Kansas City Court of Appeals, and affirmed by that court, but certified to this court for final determination for the reason that the Springfield Court of Appeals had construed the amended Hepburn Act in a contrary way in the case of McElvain v. Railroad, 151 Mo.App. 126. [See Per Curiam Opinion of Kansas City Court of Appeals on file in this case.]
II. After the creation of the Springfield Court of Appeals, under authority delegated to it by the Constitution, the Legislature by the Act of June 12, 1909 (Laws 1909, p. 396), provided for the transfer of causes by the judges of one court of appeals to another. In pursuance of that act the St. Louis Court of Appeals transferred the case of McElvain v. Railroad to the Springfield Court of Appeals, which latter court assumed jurisdiction and rendered a decision therein on November 10, 1910, but certified the case to this court for final determination because of a conflicting decision rendered by the Kansas City Court of Appeals. Thereafter (December 31, 1910) this court in Banc, in a case challenging the jurisdiction of the Springfield Court of Appeals of another case which had been similarly sent to it from the St. Louis Court of Appeals, held that the act of the Legislature authorizing such transfer by the judges of the courts of appeals from one court of appeals to another, was absolutely void and vested no jurisdiction in the Springfield Court of Appeals to hear or decide cases so sent to it. [State ex rel. v. Nixon, 232 Mo. 98, 133 S.W. 336.] Thereupon this court transmitted to the St. Louis Court of Appeals the said case of McElvain v. Railroad so that it should exercise the jurisdiction vested in it by the appeal originally taken to that court. This the St. Louis Court of Appeals proceeded to do and rendered a decision and judgment in said cause. [McElvain v. Railroad, 176 Mo.App. 379.]
Although the decision of the Springfield Court of Appeals appears in the printed reports (151 Mo.App. 126, supra) it was a simple nullity after the decision of this Court in Banc to the effect that...
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