Texas Pacific Railway Company v. Emil Reiss
Decision Date | 13 January 1902 |
Docket Number | No. 77,77 |
Parties | TEXAS & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err. , v. EMIL REISS et al |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This action was brought in the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of New York by the plaintiffs, who are defendants in error here, and are residents of Liverpool, England, to recover the value of some 200 bales of cotton destroyed by fire at Westwego, Louisiana, opposite the city of New Orleans, November 12, 1894, at a pier on the west bank of the Mississippi river, owned by the plaintiff in error. This is the same fire which is mentioned in Texas & P. R. Co. v. Clayton, 173 U. S. 348, 43 L. ed. 725, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 421. Upon the first trial the court directed a verdict in favor of the defendant, but the judgment entered thereon was reversed by the circuit court of appeals (39 C. C. A. 149, 98 Fed. 533), and a new trial granted. Upon the second trial the court, following the opinion of the circuit court of appeals, directed a verdict for the plaintiffs for the value of the cotton, and the judgment entered upon that verdict having been affirmed by the circuit court of appeals on the authority of its former opinion (39 C. C. A. 680, 99 Fed. 1006), the railway company brings the case here by writ of error. The defense of the company is based upon a clause in the bill of lading which will be set out hereafter.
The cotton had been shipped at Temple, in the state of Texas, on the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railway, to be carried over its road and the defendant's road to New Orleans, and from that port to Bremen. It arrived at New Orleans at the pier of the railway company November 6, 1894. One hundred and sixty bales were unloaded on November 7, and the balance soon thereafter, but on what day is not certain. One hundred and twenty bales were unloaded and placed at one point, and two different lots of forty bales each were deposited at other points, thus leaving the cotton at three different points on the pier of the railway company. At this time the pier was quite full, there being over 20,000 bales deposited upon it and some 8,000 bales in cars waiting to be unloaded. The pier was built, owned, and in the exclusive possession of the railway company. The bill of lading which was issued at Temple, in the state of Texas, by the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railway, expressed on its face to be on behalf of that company, and also the defendant company and the steamship company. It was an elaborate document, and purported to be 'an export bill of lading approved by the permanent committee on uniform bill of lading.' It acknowledged the receipt of the cotton consigned as marked, and to be carried to the port of New Orleans, Louisiana, and thence by the Elder, Dempster, & Company's steamship line to the port of Bremen, Germany. It had conditions which are stated to be:
'(1) With respect to the service until delivery at the port of New Orleans, Louisiana.'
'(2) With respect to the service after delivery at the port of New Orleans, Louisiana.'
There are 12 clauses relating to the service until delivery and 15 clauses relating specifically to the service after delivery at the port of New Orleans. Those clauses which are specifically referred to in this case are numbered 3, 11, and 12 in the bill of lading. They read as follows:
'11. No carrier shall be liable for delay, nor in any other respect than as warehousemen, while the said property awaits further conveyance; and in case the whole or any part of the property specified herein be prevented by any cause from going from said port in the first steamer of the ocean line above stated leaving after the arrival of such property at said port, the carrier hereunder then in possession is at liberty to forward said property by succeeding steamer of said line, or, if deemed necessary, by any other steamer.
The usual method of handling cotton upon its arrival at the pier of the company at Westwego, Louisiana, is stated, as both counsel in this case agree, with substantial accuracy in Texas & P. R. Co. v. Clayton, 173 U. S. 348, 352, 43 L. ed. 725, 727, 19 Sup. Ct. Rep. 421, 423, as follows:
At the time of the fire it is conceded that no transfer or skeleton sheets had been sent to the steamship company, or notice given it of the arrival of this cotton at the pier of the railway company.
Messrs. Rush Taggart and Arthur H. Masten for plaintiff in error.
Messrs. George Richards, Frederick E. Mygatt, and Treadwell Cleveland for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the foregoing statement of facts, delivered the opinion of the court:
In this case there had been no delivery of the cotton by the railway company prior to its destruction by fire. The cotton had arrived at the pier of the railway company, but no notification of its arrival had been given to the steamship company, nor was it in fact in the possession of, nor had...
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