Mauritz v. New York, L.E. & W.R. Co.

• Decision Date: 28 November 1884
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Wisconsin
• Parties: MAURITZ v. NEW YORK, L.E. & W.R. CO. [1]

23 F. 765

MAURITZ v. NEW YORK, L.E. & W.R. CO. ^[1]

United States Circuit Court, E.D. Wisconsin.

November 28, 1884

Wyman &amp Roehr, for plaintiff.

Finches Lynde & Miller, for defendant.

DYER J.,

(charging jury.) This is a suit to recover from the defendant, the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company, the value of certain lost baggage shipped from New York in June, 1882 over the defendant's line of road and destined for Weyauwega, Wisconsin. Many of the facts relating to the shipment and transportation of the baggage in question are undisputed. It seems that the plaintiff and his family and one Schelongowsky were a party of seven emigrants from germany, who, on their arrival in New York, desired to obtain transportation for themselves and their luggage to Weyauwega their point of ultimate destination. To that end the plaintiff's daughter applied to an agent of the defendant, at his office in New York, for passage tickets over the defendant's railroad and connecting lines of road, by means of which they and their baggage should be carried to Wisconsin. As a result of negotiations with the agent, the plaintiff, by his said daughter, purchased three third-class coupon tickets for each person in the party, one of which was a ticket from New York to Chicago over the defendant's road to Salamanca, thence over the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad to Mansfield, and thence over the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad to Chicago. The second ticket in the series was one from Chicago to Milwaukee, over the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and the third was a ticket from Milwaukee to Weyauwega, over the Wisconsin Central Railroad. For all the tickets the agent was paid $129.50. These tickets having been procured, the plaintiff and his companions then proceeded to Castle Garden, where their baggage was deposited, and there received checks for the same over the defendant's road and connecting roads to Chicago. The baggage thus checked, including the box in question, was then carried by boat across the river to Jersey City, and there seems to be no doubt that it was placed on the train upon which the plaintiff and his family took passage for Chicago.

When near Chicago, and while yet on board the cars, the plaintiff and his associates surrendered their checks to a railroad official, taking in exchange the checks furnished by that official; and after their arrival at the station, and while they were in the depot waiting-room, they exchanged those checks for six joint checks of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Wisconsin Central roads; these checks being given for the carriage of their luggage from Chicago to Weyauwega. It appears that all of the baggage in due time arrived at Weyauwega, except the box in question, the loss of which has occasioned this suit. It seems that the plaintiff and his companions did not see any of their baggage in Chicago, but the undisputed evidence establishes the fact that it all arrived at the Chicago depot; and that the loss occurred after that time appears quite evident from the fact that all the other pieces of baggage rechecked in the manner before stated, arrived safely at Weyauwega. All of the passage tickets received in New York were labeled, 'New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company;' and upon all of them was printed in the English language the following:

'Subject to the following conditions and regulations: In consideration of the reduced fare at which this ticket is sold, it will be valid only for one continuous third-class passage, if used to destination before midnight of the date canceled on the margin of this contract. And this ticket will be good only when officially stamped and dated, and upon presentation with checks attached. The checks belonging to this ticket will not be received if detached, nor will this ticket be recognized for passage if more than one date is punched out. In selling this ticket for passage over other roads this company acts only as agent for them, and assumes no responsibility beyond its own line. None of the companies represented in this ticket will assume any liability on baggage except for wearing apparel, and then only for a sum not exceeding $50 in value. No stop-over allowed.'

Each of the tickets stated on its face that it was a 'third-class ticket, good for one continuous third-class passage;' the first of the series covering such passage from New York to Chicago; the second, from Chicago to Milwaukee, and the third, from Milwaukee to Weyauwega. The coupons respectively named the different lines of road on which the tickets were receivable, and each coupon was indorsed: 'Special ticket; subject to conditions of contract.'

The uncontradicted testimony on the part of the plaintiff is that neither the plaintiff, nor his daughter who bought the tickets, nor any of their party, could speak, read, or understand the English language at the time the tickets were purchased; and there is no proof that the agent from whom the tickets were purchased, read or explained to them, or called their attention to the conditions printed on the tickets. The theory upon which the plaintiff seeks to recover in this action is that he made an express verbal contract with the agent of the defendant company for the transportation of himself and his fellow travelers and their luggage from New York to Weyauwega; by which alleged contract he claims the defendant undertook to furnish safe carriage for passengers and baggage, not only over defendant's road, but over the connecting lines named, to the place of ultimate destination; that it was one entire through contract, creating a liability on the part of the defendant for the safe transportation of baggage as well over the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Wisconsin Central roads as over the road of the defendant company, and therefore that the defendant is liable for the loss of the box in question, although that loss may not have occurred on its road.

The contention of the defendant is-- First, that it did not make such a contract as is alleged by the plaintiff, and that the evidence on the part of the plaintiff does not establish such a contract; secondly, that the contract between the parties was expressed on the face of the tickets; that it consisted of the conditions and limitations printed thereon, and that the defendant's liability for baggage was therein limited to loss occurring on its own line, and to wearing apparel not exceeding $50 in value. The issuance of the passage tickets mentioned, their acceptance by the plaintiff, the omission of the defendant's agent to explain to the plaintiff or his daughter who purchased them what was printed on their face, and the inability of the parties who obtained the tickets to read the statements and conditions printed thereon, and their consequent ignorance of the same, being undisputed facts in the case, there seems to be nothing to submit to the jury upon the question whether or not the conditions and regulations expressed on the fact of the tickets constituted the contract between the parties. As the question is here presented, it is one of law to be determined by the court.

There are many reported cases in which it has been held that, where the shipper of property over a line of railroad receives from the carrier a bill of lading containing limitations upon its common-law liability, such bill of lading constitutes the contract of shipment, binding upon the shipper, and that he cannot thereafter avoid the limitations of liability expressed therein in favor of the carrier, by pleading ignorance of the contents of the bill of lading. This is the principle invoked by the defendant in support of its contention that the tickets issued in this case with the conditions and qualifications of liability thereon expressed constituted the contract under which the baggage in question was carried. As to railroad passage tickets, there are other decisions which hold that the liability of a railroad company for the safe carriage of a passenger's baggage is not limited by a notice printed upon the face of the ticket issued by it, stating the terms upon which baggage will be carried, unless the passenger's attention is called to it when purchasing the ticket, or unless the circumstances of the transaction are such as to make the omission of the passenger to read the conditions on the ticket negligence, per se, that is, such as to make the omission of itself negligence. Thus a distinction is taken between the case of a shipper receiving a bill of lading on account of his shipment, and a traveler receiving a passage ticket for the carriage of himself and baggage over the carrier's road. I think there is ground for the distinction. In the one case the shipper is supposed to understand and know that according to commercial usage a bill of lading is essential to the regular and safe transportation of property which is shipped and carried as freight, and that of necessity it must constitute the contract of shipment and carriage. In the other case, the ticket is ordinarily regarded as a mere voucher for the money paid for it, a token or evidence of the purchaser's right to be carried, or to have his baggage carried a certain distance. And where, from the undisputed circumstances of the transaction, it is apparent that the passenger rightfully took the ticket as a mere receipt or voucher evidencing his right to be carried, and enabling him to follow and identify his property, and without any notice that it embodied the terms of a special contract, or was intended to subserve any other purpose than that of a voucher, it would seem that his omission to read the paper ought not to be held negligence, and that, as matter of law, he should not be held bound by limitations of...