Swanson v. St. Paul Union Stock Yards Co.
| Decision Date | 19 October 1923 |
| Docket Number | 23,567 |
| Citation | 195 N.W. 453,156 Minn. 483 |
| Parties | C. L. SWANSON AND OTHERS, COPARTNERS AS SWANSON, GILMORE & CASTENHOLZ v. ST. PAUL UNION STOCK YARDS COMPANY AND OTHERS |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Dakota county to recover $2,500. The case was tried before Johnson, J., who at the close of the testimony denied defendant stock yards company's motion for a directed verdict, and directed verdicts in favor of the other defendants. From an order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, the St. Paul Union Stock Yards Company appealed. Affirmed.
Evidence sustained verdict as to ownership of cattle.
1. Evidence considered and held to justify a holding tat respondents were the owners of 168 head of cattle, received by appellant at its yards, to be unloaded, watered, fed and reloaded for further transportation.
Owners entitled to their proportionate share from proceeds of sale of intermingled cattle.
2. The owners of cattle which become intermingled with similar cattle, while in transit, so that their identification becomes impossible, may recover their proportional share of the net proceeds from the sale of the whole number so commingled.
Rulings on evidence correct.
3. Record examined and we find no reversible error in the rulings upon the admissibility of evidence, nor in the charge.
D. L Grannis and K. D. Stalland, for appellant.
Ryan & Murphy and John A. Burns, for respondents.
Action to recover the value of 23 head of cattle, lost while in transit from Manitoba to Chicago. The trial court directed a verdict in favor of plaintiffs and against the defendant St. Paul Union Stock Yards Company, submitting to the jury only the question of the amount which plaintiff was entitled to recover under the proofs, and directed a verdict in favor of each of the other defendants. From an order denying its alternative motion for judgment or for a new trial, this appeal was taken. On September 17, 1920, the defendants L. C. Barton and the Barton Cattle Company shipped from the Union Stock Yards in Manitoba, Canada, 7 cars containing 168 head of cattle, to the plaintiff at Chicago. These cattle were to be unloaded, fed and watered at the St. Paul Union Stock Yards at South St. Paul, where they arrived on the day of shipment.
At the outset of the trial, plaintiff called for cross-examination Mr. Handy, superintendent of appellant's stockyards. He testified, in substance, that appellant's stockyards contained pens designated as "Yards for Canadian Cattle;" that each of these pens has a capacity of about one car of cattle; that it was the custom, when unloading, to turn each car of cattle into a separate pen; that, in so doing, the cattle, in passing from the car through the chute into the pen, were counted; that there were two books, known as chute books, kept by the person whose duty it was to load the cattle into, or remove them from such pens, and in these books were entered the car number, the initials of the consignor and of the consignee, the number of cattle, the pen into which they were placed, and the name of the party to whom the same were thereafter delivered; that such books were the books of original entry kept by appellant.
The witness further testified that the man, whose name appears on the face of the chute books as having made the entries, was in appellant's employ, and it was this employe's duty to check the cars in the yard. The chute book for unloading shows the receipt of cars numbered 35,292, 88,919, 5,380 5,005, 56,104, 45,172 and 16,500 and the pen into which each car was unloaded. These...
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