Miller Grain & Elevator Co. v. Union Pac. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 04 May 1897
• Citation: 40 S.W. 894,138 Mo. 658
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: MILLER GRAIN & ELEVATOR CO. v. UNION PAC. RY. CO.

40 S.W. 894

138 Mo. 658

MILLER GRAIN & ELEVATOR CO. v. UNION PAC. RY. CO.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

May 4, 1897.

CARRIERS OF GOODS — CONNECTING LINES — LIMITING LIABILITY — CONSTITUTIONAL LAW.

1. Const. Neb. art. 11, § 4, declaring that "the liability of railroad corporations as common carriers shall never be limited," does not affect a contract limiting the receiving carrier's liability to loss occurring on its own lines.

2. Comp. St. Neb. 1893, c. 16, § 111, providing that "any railroad company receiving freight for transportation shall be entitled to the same rights and be subject to the same liabilities as common carriers," and that "whenever two or more railroads are connected together, the company owning either of said roads receiving freight

to be transported to any place on the line of either * * * shall be liable as common carrier for the delivery of the freight to the consignee * * * in the same order in which such freight was shipped," does not render a receiving company, which has only contracted to deliver to the connecting carrier, liable for the latter's default.

3. A specific agreement by the receiving carrier to transport the freight only to the terminus of its line, and there deliver to a connecting carrier, cannot be controlled by markings on the bill of lading, giving the name of the consignee and the ultimate destination of the freight.

In banc. Appeal from St. Louis circuit court; L. B. Valliant, Judge.

Action begun before a justice of the peace by the Miller Grain & Elevator Company against the Union Pacific Railway Company for failure to deliver freight. On appeal to the circuit court judgment was rendered for defendant, and plaintiff appealed to the court of civil appeals, which transferred the case to the supreme court as involving a constitutional question. Affirmed.

This action was begun before a justice of the peace upon the following statement: "Plaintiff states that it and defendant were at the times hereinafter mentioned corporations duly organized according to law, and that defendant is and was a common carrier. Plaintiff states that on the 6th day of January, 1892, one W. W. Pool shipped from Pleasanton, Neb., over defendant's road, one car load of No. 2 corn in car No. 7,628, containing 43,620 pounds, or 778 bushels, to be delivered to F. C. Swartz & Co., East St. Louis, Ill., and received from defendant a bill of lading therefor; that during the transportation of said corn said F. C. Swartz & Co. sold said corn to plaintiff, and indorsed said bill of lading to plaintiff; that said corn was then worth, and plaintiff paid for said corn, $228.69, and demanded said corn from defendant; that defendant has failed to deliver said corn to plaintiff, and plaintiff has been damaged in the sum of $228.69, for which sum, interest, and costs he prays judgment."

The case was tried on the following agreed statement of facts:

"That on or about the 6th day of January, 1892, one W. W. Pool shipped from Pleasanton, Neb., one car of No. 2 corn in car S. P. 7,628, containing seven hundred and seventy-eight 52/56 (778 52/56) bushels, loaded at Pool Siding, Neb., and marked and consigned to the order of F. C. Swartz & Co., East St. Louis, Ill., care of Louisville, Evansville & St. Louis Railway, which is a railway company and carrier, doing business in the said East St. Louis, Ill. That said car of corn was received for shipment by the defendant at Pleasanton station, Neb., on said 6th day of January, 1892, and a bill of lading therefor was issued by the said defendant to said shipper, W. W. Pool, after said car was loaded, and before the same was sealed and shipped, which said bill of lading is on file in this cause, and to which reference is hereby made as if the same were made part hereof:

                     "`Union Pacific Railway Company
                  "`Bill of Lading No. ____
                             "`Pleasanton, Neb., Station
                                          "`January 8, 1892
                

"`Received of W. W. Pool the following described freight, in apparent good order, marked and consigned as noted below, contents and value unknown, to be transported to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and delivered at the railway depot at that point, on payment of freight charges, together with such charges as shall have been advanced on the same. This contract, and the responsibilities of the parties thereto, is limited and controlled by the rules and regulations, as printed on back hereof; also by the terms and conditions of the railway company's printed tariffs, which are hereby declared to be an essential part of this contract. It is understood and agreed that the Union Pacific Railway Company assumes no liability beyond the end of its own line, and that, as far as it acts as agent for other parties who participate in the joint transit aforesaid, said parties are separately liable.

                    "`The Union Pacific Railway Company
                            "`By O. W. White, Agent.
                    "`W. W. Pool, Shipper.
                   "`(Original.)
                   "`Consignee: Order F. C. Swartz & Co.
                   "`Destination: East St. Louis, Illinois.
                                      Description
                  Mark.   Packages.   of Articles.    Weights.
                                (Subject to correction).
                        One Car Corn.                 40,000.
                  S. P.      7628      Loaded at Pool Siding.
                   "`Care L., E. & St. L. Ry.'
                

"That said bill of lading was then and there signed by the defendant, by its duly-authorized agent, O. H. White, and by said shipper, W. W. Pool, as appears in said bill of lading. That Council Bluffs, Iowa, named in said bill of lading is and was the end of the defendant's line of railway in the transportation of said car of corn from its point of shipment to its point of destination. That said car of corn was, on the 8th day of January, 1892, delivered by the defendant at its railway depot at said Council Bluffs, Iowa, and was, on the same day, and at the said depot, at said Council Bluffs, Iowa, delivered by the defendant to the Omaha and St. Louis Railway, operating in conjunction with the Wabash Railway, for transportation to its point of destination. That said Omaha and St. Louis Railway, operating in conjunction with the Wabash Railway, is and was the most convenient and feasible route connecting with the defendant in the transportation of said car of corn to its point of destination. That the defendant does not and did not own, control, or operate any line of railway from said Council Bluffs, Iowa, to the point of destination of said car of corn. That a waybill was sent by defendant with said car of corn, and delivered to its said connecting carrier, which said waybill set forth the consignee and destination of said car of corn as contained in the aforesaid bill of lading. That the defendant did not assume or exercise any control over said car of corn after said car had been delivered by it to said connecting carrier, Omaha and St. Louis Railway Company, except such control as the law imposed upon it. That on or about the 20th day of January, 1892, the Wabash Railway Company by mistake delivered said car of corn at said East St. Louis, Illinois, to some party who was not entitled to receive the same. That said car of corn, while in transit as aforesaid, was purchased by the plaintiff at 40 cents per bushel, and said bill of lading was indorsed in blank by F. C. Swartz & Co. to the plaintiff. That said corn was resold by the plaintiff at more than 40 cents per bushel, if it could have been delivered by plaintiff to his vendee in a reasonable time after shipment. That ten days after shipment would have been a reasonable time for the transportation of said corn from its point of shipment to its point of destination. That said car of corn was not and has not been delivered to the plaintiff. That the market price of said corn on the track at said East St. Louis, Illinois, was 37 3/8 cents per bushel on the 20th day of January, 1892, and 37¾ cents per bushel on the 16th day of January, 1892. That the freight charges, amounting to $82.88, from its point of shipment to its point of destination, on said car of corn, if said car of corn had been delivered to the plaintiff at said East St. Louis, Illinois, would have been paid by the plaintiff to the last connecting carrier making such delivery thereof, and the said freight charges would thereupon have been apportioned by said last connecting and delivering carrier among the carriers entitled thereto (including the defendant), and participating in the transportation of said corn. The plaintiff admits that defendant delivered said corn to its said connecting carrier at Council Bluffs, Iowa, within a reasonable time. The freight charges, to wit, $82.88, should be deducted from any valuation found by the court."

It was also then agreed that the constitution and laws of Nebraska, and the decisions of the court of that state, and the laws and decisions of Illinois were...