Peterson v. The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company
| Decision Date | 15 May 1890 |
| Citation | 45 N.W. 573,80 Iowa 92 |
| Parties | PETERSON v. THE CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND AND PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY et al |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Decided May, 1890.
Appeal from Scott District Court.--HON. C. M. WATERMAN, Judge.
THE plaintiff seeks to recover of the defendants, who are common carriers of passengers and baggage, the value of certain wearing apparel, ornaments and other property which were stolen from certain trunks of the plaintiff and her husband while being conveyed as baggage from Davenport, in this state, to the city of Los Angeles, in the state of California. There was a trial by jury, and at the close of the introduction of the evidence the court, on the motion of the defendants, directed the jury to return a verdict for the defendants. Plaintiff appeals.
REVERSED.
Bills & Hass, for appellant.
Cook & Dodge, for Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company appellee.
Nathaniel French, for other appellees.
I.
In the month of October, 1886, W. D. Peterson, the husband of the plaintiff, made a contract at Davenport, in this state, for transportation for himself and family from Davenport to Los Angeles, California. He purchased three through tickets, for which he paid the agent of the Rock Island Company the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars. He had certain traveling trunks, which were checked by the Rock Island Company to Kansas City. The tickets were what is known as "coupon tickets." The first coupon was good for transportation over the Rock Island road to Kansas City; the next coupon was for passage over the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad from Kansas City to its junction with the Atlantic and Pacific railway, and on the last-named road to its junction with the California Southern railroad; and the last coupon was for passage over the last-named road to Los Angeles. The following is a copy of one of the tickets purchased by said Peterson at Davenport, with the last coupon attached thereto:
[SEE Special Limited Ticket IN ORIGINAL]
Issued by
Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railway.
Special Limited Ticket.
Good for one continuous first-class passage to points between punch-marks on coupon attached, when officially stamped, subject to the following contract:
In selling this ticket for passage over other roads, this company acts only as agent, and assumes no responsibility beyond its own line.
This ticket is not transferable, and the holder hereof, in consideration of the reduced rate at which it is sold, agrees with the respective companies over whose roads such holder is to be carried, to use the same on or before the expiration of date as canceled by punch on the margin of this contract; and, the holder hereof failing to comply with this agreement, either of said companies may refuse to accept this ticket, or any coupons thereof, and demand the full regular fare, which the holder agrees to pay.
Agents will in no case extend time on this ticket.
If more than one date be canceled, it will not be received for passage by conductors.
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 $ 100.
The coupons belonging to this ticket, if limited, will be canceled by ticket agent with an L punch, and will not be received for passage if detached.
If more than one station is designated as the terminal point on this ticket, it will be honored only to that station indicated by punch-marks nearest the starting point of coupon.
[Signed] E. ST. JOHN.
I hereby agree to all the conditions of the above contract.
[Signature] W. D. PETERSON.
[Witness].
H. H. HILLS, Agt.
Per ALLEN.
Issued by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry.
National City.
Los Angeles
San Diego.
San Bernardino.
California Southern Railroad.
Barston to
point between punch-marks in margin, on
conditions named in contract.
1--2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9--0.
First Class. This check not good if detached.
1979. 55.
C., R. I. & P. A., T. & S. F. A. & P. C S.
All of the coupons were attached to the ticket, and they were in the same words and figures, with the exception of the name of the road over which they were good for travel, and the names of the stations on the line of road as appears on the margin. Taken all together, the tickets were good for the entire route by one continuous passage from Davenport to Los Angeles, over the four connecting railways above named. When the said Peterson and his family arrived at Kansas City, he presented his checks to a baggageman in the railroad depot at that place, and had his trunk rechecked to Los Angeles. The baggage went through to its destination by the same train which carried Peterson and his family. Upon his arrival at Los Angeles, he delivered his checks to some one representing a transfer company, and the trunks were delivered at the hotel where the family stopped in about an hour after the checks were delivered to the agent of the transfer company. When delivered to said Peterson, and opened, it was found that some of the trunks had been unlocked and opened, and wearing apparel and ornaments and other property had been taken therefrom of the value of about four hundred and fifty dollars, and the trunks had been again locked and fastended, so that when delivered to the owners at Los Angeles they had the appearance of not having been opened. There is no question made upon the fact that the trunks were pillaged at some point between Davenport and Los Angeles, as the said passengers had no access to the trunks on the journey, and did not see them except at Kansas City. The plaintiff's husband duly assigned all claim he had to recompense for the loss to the plaintiff, and the action to recover for the stolen goods was brought against all four of the connecting roads by which the journey was made.
The first count of the petition is based upon an alleged conspiracy of the four defendant companies, by which they confederated together and organized and perfected a plan by which said baggage should be transported over said lines of travel in such a way that defendants could steal the contents, and relock the trunks, so that it would be impossible for the owners of the same to discover, without the assistance of defendants, upon the road of which of said defendants said stealing was actually done. It is scarcely necessary to say that, if there was evidence to sustain this count of the petition, the plaintiff would be entitled to recover of any one or all of the defendants. But there is no such evidence. This count of the petition demands no further consideration.
II. In an amendment to the petition the plaintiff set up a second and further cause of action, in which it is, in substance, alleged that, at the time the tickets were purchased by Peterson and the journey was made, the four railroad companies owned and operated by the defendants formed a complete connecting line of railway from Davenport to Los Angeles, and at said time said four defendants had formed and entered into an agreement and combination for the purpose of transporting passengers and their baggage from Davenport to Los Angeles, by using said four lines of railway as a continuous line between said places, and making one fare or charge for such transportation for the entire distance; "that said business of transporting said baggage was done by defendants in such a manner that it was impossible for plaintiff or her husband to know or discover at what particular place on said route said property was so taken from said trunks, and she is, therefore, unable to state." There was no evidence to sustain this count of the petition as against the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. On the contrary, it is expressly provided, on the face of the ticket, that the said company assumed "no responsibility beyond its own line." It did not check the baggage beyond its own line, and the evidence shows that the trunks were not opened while they were in the possession of that company. When the baggage was delivered at Kansas City, the checks taken up and the trunks rechecked, the contract, so far as the Rock Island Company was concerned, was fully performed. This court is committed to the doctrine that the receiving or initial carrier may, by a stipulation in the bill of lading or contract of carriage, limit its liability to injuries to the consignment which occur on its own line. Mulligan v. Railway Co., 36 Iowa 181. We do not understand counsel for appellant to claim that the court erred in directing a verdict for the Rock Island Company, and it has made no appearance in this court, and has not filed either brief or argument.
The important question to be determined in the case is whether the other three defendants are jointly, or, rather, jointly and severally, liable for the pillage of plaintiff's baggage. That some one of them is liable there can be no serious question. It is true the larceny may have been committed by the employes of the transfer company at Los Angeles. But, in view of the brief time between the delivery of the checks and the arrival of the baggage at the hotel this is not at all probable. To determine this question, it will be necessary to analyze the contract, and determine its legal effect upon the rights of the parties. It will be observed that the ticket does not provide that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, the Atlantic and Pacific, and the California Southern Railroad companies assumed no responsibility beyond their own lines. Their obligation is, therefore, to be determined by the ticket with the coupons attached, and by the other facts developed in the evidence tending to show what the real...
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