Tallon v. Seaboard Coast Line R. Co., 20637
| Decision Date | 14 March 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 20637,20637 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | L. A. TALLON, d/b/a Tallon Grain Company, Appellant, v. SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY and Cargill, Inc., Respondents. |
Marvin P. Jackson, Jr., Florence, for appellant.
Gordon B. Baker, Jr., Florence, for respondent Seaboard Coast Line.
J. Boone Aiken, III, Florence, for respondent Cargill, Inc.
L. A. Tallon, d/b/a Tallon Grain Company (Tallon) brought this action against Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company (Seaboard) and Cargill, Inc. for an alleged weight loss in shipments of soybeans. The soybeans in question were transported by Seaboard from Cartersville, South Carolina, to Fayetteville, North Carolina. The case was tried before a jury and, at the close of all evidence, the trial court directed a verdict in favor of both Seaboard and Cargill from which Tallon appeals. We reverse as to Seaboard and affirm as to Cargill.
In Tallon's claim against Seaboard, he alleged that he had placed a quantity of soybeans in each of five railroad cars, and that when these cars arrived at their destination at Cargill's place of business in Fayetteville and were weighed, it was determined that they weighed 13,855 pounds less than the quantity delivered to Seaboard for shipment. Tallon sought to recover the market value of this alleged shortage from Seaboard.
Cargill was the purchaser and consignee of the beans and was jointly sued with Seaboard on allegations that the shortage in the weight of the shipment was the result of spillage caused by negligent unloading or that Cargill employed inaccurate scales in weighing the soybeans.
The trial judge directed the verdict in favor of Seaboard on the narrow ground that there was insufficient proof of the weight of the soybeans at the inception of the shipment. After having been loaded with the soybeans by Tallon at Cartersville, the cars were moved to Sumter and weighed on scales owned and maintained by Seaboard. Receipts were then issued by Seaboard to Tallon purporting to show the weight of the soybeans in each of the five cars. These receipts were introduced into evidence at trial by Tallon for the purpose of showing the quantity of soybeans contained in the cars at the inception of the shipment. When the weight found by Cargill at destination is deducted from the aggregate weight of the receipts issued by Seaboard, the result is a 13,855 pound shortage, the quantity of shortage claimed by Tallon in this suit. The trial judge held that such receipts were only temporary and the...
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