Millers National Insurance Company v. Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company
| Decision Date | 28 January 1916 |
| Docket Number | 19,379 - (52) |
| Citation | 156 N.W. 117,132 Minn. 151 |
| Parties | MILLERS NATIONAL INSURANCE COMPANY AND OTHERS v. MINNEAPOLIS, ST. PAUL & SAULT STE. MARIE RAILWAY COMPANY |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Hennepin county by three insurance companies to recover $1,034.25 for a carload of wheat destroyed under the circumstances mentioned in the opinion. The defense set up in the answer is stated in the opinion. The case was tried before Molyneaux, J., who made findings and ordered judgment in favor of plaintiffs for $148.73. Plaintiffs appealed from an order denying their motion for a new trial and defendant appealed from an order denying its motion for a new trial. Affirmed.
Covenant in lease -- liability for loss from fire.
1. A lease to an elevator company of lands belonging to a common carrier contained a covenant, which, it is claimed, relieved the carrier from liability for loss resulting from its own negligence in the performance of its duties as such common carrier, and that it consequently is void as against public policy. Held, that the covenant is independent of, and severable from, the other provisions of the contract, and conceding that it is void, it does not necessarily avoid the entire contract.
Covenant in lease -- carrier's negligence not included.
2. A common carrier demised a grain elevator and other property to an elevator company. The lease contained a provision that the carrier should not be liable to the elevator company for loss of grain caused by fire communicated from the elevator company's elevator or buildings to such grain while in the possession of the carrier within 100 feet of such elevator or buildings, even though a shipping receipt for the grain had been issued to the elevator company. Held, that this stipulation in the lease does not relieve the carrier from liability for loss resulting from its own negligence.
Exclusion of evidence.
3. The trial court's ruling in excluding certain evidence offered by defendant in support of its counterclaim, held not error.
William Furst, for plaintiffs.
Norbert B. Tyrrell, George A. Kingsley and John L. Erdall, for defendants.
The plaintiffs are insurance companies duly licensed to do business in the state of Minnesota. Defendant is a common carrier of freight by rail, doing business in Minnesota North Dakota and other states, and operating a line of railway between the towns of Ryder and Valley City, North Dakota.
On February 20, 1911, the Occident Elevator Company delivered to the defendant at Ryder, one carload of wheat in good condition to be transported to Valley City. Defendant accepted the wheat and issued a bill of lading therefor, wherein it agreed to transport the grain from Ryder to Valley City. The value of the wheat was $931.75. It belonged to the Occident Elevator Company.
Early in the morning of February 21, while the carload of wheat was in defendant's possession on defendant's track near the Occident Elevator Company's elevator and after the bill of lading had been executed and delivered, a fire broke out in the Occident Elevator Company's elevator. The fire was communicated to the carload of wheat, injuring the car, destroying part of the wheat and damaging the rest.
The elevator and the track upon which the car was standing were situated on property leased by the Occident Elevator Company from the defendant. A written lease entered into between these parties was in force at the time of the fire.
On the twenty-eighth of February, 1911, without authority from the plaintiffs or the Occident Elevator Company, the defendant converted the damaged wheat to its own use and sold it for the sum of $148.73, which was the reasonable value thereof. The elevator company was insured in plaintiff companies, which paid to it the full value of the wheat. Thereupon the Occident Elevator Company assigned to the plaintiffs all its rights of action against the defendant, including its right of action for the conversion of the damaged wheat remaining in the car.
The plaintiffs brought this action against the defendant for the amount which they have paid to the elevator company, being the full value of the wheat destroyed and converted. The defendant sets up, among other defenses, the lease to the Occident Elevator Company which contains, among other provisions, a clause to the effect that:
"Tenth The lessee (the elevator company) shall save the lessor (the railway company) harmless for all damage by fire to contents of cars loaded by lessee and within one hundred feet of the elevator, warehouse or other buildings of lessee, providing such fire originates in such building or buildings or originates elsewhere and is communicated through such buildings to cars notwithstanding the lessor...
To continue reading
Request your trial