Providence Co v. Hill Manuf

• Citation: 3 S.Ct. 379,27 L.Ed. 1038,109 U.S. 578
• Parties: PROVIDENCE & N. Y. S. S. CO. v. HILL MANUF'G Co
• Decision Date: 17 December 1883
• Court: United States Supreme Court

109 U.S. 578

3 S.Ct. 379

27 L.Ed. 1038

PROVIDENCE & N. Y. S. S. CO. v. HILL MANUF'G Co.

December 17, 1883.

Moorfield Storey and Jos. H. Choate, for plaintiffs in error.

S. A. B. Abbott and J. G. Abbott, for defendant in error.

BRADLEY, J.

The writ of error in this case brings up for consideration a judgment of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts rendered in an action brought by The Hill Manufacturing Company against the Providence & New York Steamship Company as common carriers, to recover damages for the loss of certain goods delivered by the plaintiffs to the defendants at Providence, Rhode Island, to be transported to the city of New York; which goods, it is alleged, were, by the negligence of the defendants, burned and injured by fire. The loss is stated to have occurred in May, 1868; the action was commenced in September, 1870. The defendants first put in an answer denying the allegations of the declaration; but averring that if the goods were delivered to them for the purpose stated, they were delivered to and received by them to be transported to the city of New York over Long Island sound, (not being river or inland navigation,) and were safely transported to New York in their steamship Oceanus, and that the damage, if any, was caused by fire happening to said steamship at her dock in New York, and said fire was not caused by the neglect or design of the defendants, who were the owners of said steamship, but occurred without their privity or knowledge; and they pleaded the first and third sections of the act of congress, approved March 3, 1851, entitled 'An act to limit the liability of ship-owners, and for other purposes;' the first section of which provided as follows, to-wit:

'That no owner or owners of any ship or vessel shall be subject or liable to answer for or make good to any one or more person or persons any loss or damage which may happen to any goods or merchandise whatsoever, which shall be shipped, taken in, or put on board any such ship or vessel, by reason or by means of any fire happening to or on oard the said ship or vessel, unless such fire is caused by the design or neglect of such owner or owners.'

And the third section of said act provided as follows, to-wit:

'That the liability of the owner or owners of any ship or vessel for any embezzlement, loss, or destruction by the master, officers, mariners, passengers, or any other person or persons, of any property, goods, or merchandise shipped or put on board such ship or vessel, or for any loss, damage, or injury by collision, or for any act, matter or thing, loss, damage or forfeiture done, occasioned, or incurred without the privity or knowledge of such owner or owners, shall in no case exceed the amount or value of the interest of such owner or owners respectively in such ship or vessel and her freight then pending.'

The defendants subsequently amended their answer by adding a particular statement of the manner in which the loss occurred, namely, by a fire at New York, which commenced in a building on the wharf or pier at which the steamship lay after her arrival, and was rapidly communicated to the vessel, which was burnt to the water's edge, together with most of her cargo, including not only the goods of the plaintiffs, but a large quantity of goods of other persons, greatly exceeding in amount the value of the defendants' interest in the vessel and her freight then pending. The amended answer further stated, that the defendants having been sued in the present case and in other cases in New York city and elsewhere, for injuries to said cargo by said fire, and desiring as well to contest their liability, and the liability of the steamer, for the loss and damage occasioned by the fire, as also to claim the benefit of the limitation of liability provided for in the third and fourth sections of said act of congress, on May 14, 1875, filed in the proper district court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof, to wit, the district court for the southern district of New York, pursuant to said act and the rules of the supreme court of the United States in that behalf, their libel and petition, setting forth the facts and circumstances on and by reason of which such exemption from and limitation of liability were claimed, and offering to pay into said district court the amount of the defendants' interest in said vessel and freight, or to give a stipulation with sureties for the payment thereof into said court whenever the same should be ordered, praying relief in that behalf, and further praying that said district court would cause due appraisement to be had of the amount or value of the interest of said defendants in said steamer and her freight for said voyage, and would either order the same to be paid into said district court, or a stipulation to be given by the defendants with sureties for the payment thereof into said district court whenever ordered, and that said district court would issue a monition against all persons claiming damages for the loss, destruction, damage, and injury occasioned by said fire on board of said vessel, citing them to appear before said district court and make due proof of their respective claims at a time to be therein named, and also praying that said district court would designate a commissioner, before whom such claims should be presented, in pursuance of said monition; and that if upon the coming in of the report of said commissioner and confirmation thereof it should appear that said defendants were not liable for such loss, damage, destruction, and injury, it might be so finally decreed by said district court; otherwise, that the moneys paid or secured to be paid into said district court as aforesaid (after payment of the costs and expenses) should and might be divided pro rata among the several claimants in proportion to the amount of their re- spective claims, and praying that in the mean time, and until the final judgment should be rendered, said district court would make an order restraining the further prosecution of all and any sui or suits against said defendants in respect to any such claim or claims; that upon said libel said district court caused due appraisement to be had and made of the amount or value of the interest of said defendants in said steamer and her freight for said voyage, and duly made an order for the giving by the defendants of a stipulation with sureties for payment thereof into court whenever the same should be ordered.

The answer further stated that the defendants, pursuant to the order of said district court, entered into a stipulation, with two sureties, to pay the value of said interest and freight as so appraised into said district court whenever ordered, which stipulation was approved, and said order having been complied with, a monition was thereupon issued by said district court against all persons claiming damages for the loss, destruction, damage, and injury occasioned by said fire on board said steamer, citing them to appear before said district court and make due proof of their respective claims at or before a certain time named in said monition, to-wit, at or before the fifteenth day of October, A. D. 1872, which time was at least three months from the issuing of said monition; and designating George F. Betts, Esq., a commissioner of said district court, as the commissioner before whom such claims should be presented, in pursuance of said monition, and ordering public and other notice of said monition as therein set forth, and that said notice had been served on the said Hill Manufacturing Company, as well as on all other claimants, pursuant to said monition; and said district court duly made an order restraining the further prosecution of all and any suit or suits against the defendants in respect of any such claim or claims. The answer then referred to a certified copy of the libel and the proceedings thereon, annexed to and made part of the answer, and also made profert of said libel and proceedings, and concluded as follows:

'And these defendants further say that said fire, and the injury thereby caused or occasioned, was without the privity or knowledge of these defendants. And these defendants, further answering, say that if the plaintiffs have any claim by reason of any injury to said cotton cloth, it cannot be enforced in this action, but can only be enforced in said suit in said district court, and then and there only under and pursuant to said act of congress. And these defendants, further answering, say that said steamer Oceanus was not a canal-boat, barge, or lighter, and was not used in rivers or inland navigation, and that said voyage from Providence to said city of New York was not in rivers or inland navigation; and that an injunction has been issued by said district court against said Hill Manufacturing Company, restraining and enjoining them from the further prosecution of this suit, and that said injunction has been duly served on said Hill Manufacturing Company; and further that said Hill Manufacturing Company sued in this court the Boston & Lowell Railroad Company for the alleged loss and injury complained of in the declaration in this cause to the cotton cloth therein mentioned, and recovered therein a judgment against said Boston & Lowell Railroad Company for said alleged loss and injury, which judgment was settled, paid, and satisfied.'

Upon the filing of this answer the case was opened to a jury, but before any verdict was taken the case was reserved, upon the report of the judge who presided at the trial, for the consideration of the full court. In September term, 1875, it was ordered by the supreme judicial court that the case do stand for trial. Whereupon the defendants filed the following objections, viz.:

'And now, with the view of having this action taken to the supreme court of the United States upon a writ of error, if the final judgment therein in this honorable court shall be against ...